On Saturday, May 24th, the Naperville North Varsity Boys Water Polo team beat the New Trier Trevians and won the state championship with an intense comeback.
The Huskies (32-4) beat the Trevians (30-3) with a score of 7-6.
The game started off strong with senior Mason Hofmann (6) winning the swim off. The Huskies then went on to display strong defense and were able to secure the first goal of the game with 5:49 left in the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Huskies, the Trevians immediately responded with a goal of their own with 5:33 left in the quarter, which brought the score to 1-1. The Huskies continued to fight and played aggressive defense with senior goalie Caleb Uson (1) blocking a five-meter shot from the Trevians. The Huskies struggled to find the back of the net, with their shots on goal not going in. New Trier used that to their advantage to get another goal near the end of the first quarter to finish the quarter off with the Huskies down 2-1. In the second quarter, it began to look rough for the Huskies as New Trier went on a scoring spree with 3 goals in the first 3 and a half minutes of the quarter, resulting in a score of 5-1. Fortunately, the Huskies persisted and secured their second goal of the night with 3:17 left in the first half, which led to a score of 5-2. Yet, the Trevians still managed to get a goal before the end of the quarter which led to a score of 6-2 to end the first half. Hofmann detailed how the Huskies started the game.
“We took care of business against Whitney Young in the Semifinals but came out flat at the start and looked like a deer in headlights,” Hofmann said.
Although the path to victory was looking out of reach for the Huskies, they came into the third quarter strong. Hofmann stole the ball and, following a New Trier ejection, was able to secure a goal for the Huskies with 6:03 left in the quarter to get a score of 6-3. The Huskies defense didn’t give New Trier a shot at scoring and ended up stealing the ball to race down the pool and secured another Huskie goal with 5:42 left, giving the Huskies a score of 6-4. The Huskies kept the newfound momentum up with Junior John Riordan (3) blocking a pass to get possession and eventually get a goal with an assist from Hofmann to Senior Jack Reif (2). The third quarter ended with a score of 6-5. Entering the fourth and final quarter, The Huskies had a strong start with a powerful outside shot from Hofmann to tie the game at 6-6. The Huskies continued to play relentless defense and ultimately shut down New Trier’s offense resulting in a shutout for NNHS in the second half of the match. Luckily, the Huskies got their final goal of the game with Junior, Caden Tsao (11), slamming it into the back of the net with 4:09 left, resting at a score of 7-6. For the rest of the game, they successfully blocked any shot the Trevians had and when the clock counted down to zero, the Huskies were officially state champions. Reif detailed how the Huskies were able to have such an outstanding performance in the second half.
“The majority of our starting lineup is seniors, and we all knew we only had one half of waterpolo left in our high school career. We knew we needed to play our hearts out and that is what we did,” Reif said.
Naperville North’s Boys’ Water Polo team has never been state champions. Not only was it an incredible accomplishment for the team but also for Head Coach Kelly Reif, who has only coached for 5 years, and now will have a state title under her belt. Coach Reif expressed what it meant for her to win the state championship.
“It is unbelievable. I said to Jack and Mason when they were freshman that if you come along with me, we are winning a state championship by your senior year and here we are,” Coach Reif said.
