Effective start buoys Mundelein
A flurry of early goals made the difference for the Mundelein boys water polo team Wednesday night at Stevenson.
The Mustangs scored just 17 seconds into the contest, led 7-2 at halftime, and 8-2 after three quarters before swimming to a 9-4 North Suburban Conference victory over the host Patriots.
Coming off a fourth-place finish in the state last spring, Mundelein (4-2, 1-0) again looks impressive in the early stages of the season despite losing some key players to graduation.
Adam Turkula’s quick goal put the Mustangs ahead 1-0 before senior teammate Will Davidson lofted a shot over Stevenson goalie Robert O’Brien’s head for a 2-0 lead with 5:07 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Patriots (2-7, 1-1) cut the gap to 2-1 37 seconds later when junior Hasan Khan scored the first of his 3 goals with a close-range shot from straight ahead past Mundelein goalie Jakub Sierzputowski.
But Mundelein regained its 2-goal cushion when Davidson (3 goals) faked and scored a 1-on-1 goal for a 3-1 advantage with 1:25 left in the first quarter.
“It was a tough game. We definitely played great defense, but we have to pick it up on offense,” Davidson said. “We’ve always said defense first and offense will come. We’ve just got to focus, get comfortable, and place our shots.”
Mundelein’s Sean Falconer scored from the right wing to make the score 4-1 1:51 into the second quarter.
Stevenson made its final big stand on Khan’s second goal assisted by Zachary Blumenfeld to cut the gap to 4-2 with 4:02 left in the second period.
The Mustangs answered that goal with unanswered goals by Frank Lukacs from in close before Turkula’s second goal made the score 6-2. Then came the big back-breaker as Turkula tapped in a close-range goal just 25 seconds before intermission for a commanding 7-2 lead.
“We’re a very young, inexperienced team and they have a lot of seniors on their team,” said Stevenson coach Sean Wimer. “This is our sixth game in a row against teams ranked in the top 20 and in the long run that bodes well for the kids.”
Wimer added, “So far we’ve progressed in every game we played, and we showed some resolve in the fourth quarter to make it a 5-goal game.”
The third quarter was a defensive struggle with a steal and goal by Davidson late in the period boosting Mundelein’s lead to 8-2.
The Mustangs went ahead 9-2 on Quinn Larsen’s goal with 5:43 to play before Stevenson’s Alexander Shkiler scored from the left side with 5:14 to go. Khan’s third goal closed out the scoring with 2:49 left.
“I think we shot 9-for-29 (31 percent) and we have to shoot better than that the next time we play Stevenson,” said Mundelein coach Rahul Sethna. “Last year our mentality was to outscore teams, and this year we’re trying to get back and limit the other team’s opportunities.”