Behind three all-state seniors, Naperville North boys water polo chasing perfection

Naperville North senior Jack Reif has made two high school All-America teams in water polo and is on track to make a third this season. The list of players who can match Reif’s accolades, to say nothing of his work ethic, is short.

But Reif, a center, sees one of the names on that list every day at practice when he gets in the pool with senior attacker Mason Hofmann. Hofmann also has been named to a pair of All-America teams, but neither is resting on their laurels. Even in practice, the two teammates give it everything they’ve got.

“Mason and I are leading our team, pushing each other … going all out every day, all day,” Reif said. “I think that’s one of the things that’s helped Mason and I become the players we are, because not only are we teammates, we practice against each other every day.”

Those practices can be even more competitive than the games. Hofmann and Reif have been playing on the same club team for nearly a decade, and the familiarity has bred a fierce yet friendly rivalry.

“This is the way Mason and I have been forever. We’ll race each other the whole practice,” Reif said. “There were days where punches were thrown between us, but then we laughed it off.”

Naperville North head coach Kelly Reif, Jack’s mother, takes full advantage of having senior leaders providing such high levels of talent and intensity every day. She says the impact has been especially noticeable for the younger players in the program.

“They’re two of the top players in the state,” Reif said. “The way they work with the younger guys and teach them … (Jack and Mason) passing on their knowledge is priceless for the team.”

That knowledge has boosted the Huskies to a 14-2 start to the season. While some observers might point to the offense (15.1 goals per game) as the key to the team’s success, Jack Reif looks at things differently.

“We've established as a part of our culture that getting a stop or getting a shot block or a good steal is almost, if not just as important, as scoring a goal,” Reif said. “We take a lot of pride in our defense, more so than our offense.”

One of the linchpins of that defense is Naperville North’s third all-state player: goalie Caleb Uson, who didn’t start playing water polo until his freshman year. For Hofmann, who’s started alongside Reif and Uson for three seasons, the shared battles have resulted in strong chemistry.

“It's to the point with a lot of guys, and Caleb too, where you know the ball is coming before you even turn your head just because you play together so much,” Hoffman said. “Our sophomore year, we had five sophomores in our class starting. We’ve really been almost the exact same team for the past three years.”

Coach Reif has seen her three all-state stars go through almost the entirety of high school together. The bonds are especially evident to her.

“They banter together, and they know exactly what they can expect the other person to do in the water,” Reif said. “They can hold each other accountable because they know what they’re each capable of.”

For Reif and the other coaches, the top end of that capability is nothing short of perfection. While that goal may be less feasible than a goal of beating another team, Reif thinks it serves as the best motivation for her team.

“I tell the boys a lot, can we have every single possession be perfect? The goal is, at the end of the season, we are at those 28 perfect minutes,” Reif said.

If the Huskies are able to attain those 28 perfect minutes, they might capture the one thing that’s eluded the program: a state championship. Naperville North finished third last season, and the loss in the state semifinals has served as a motivator all season long.

But the hunger for a state title has existed for much longer than just one season.

“I can remember, even when we were in eighth grade, just talking about maybe playing water polo in high school, how we knew that we would have a good class coming in and that maybe a state championship would be a possibility,” Hofmann said. “ I know almost everyone on the team, it's been one of their goals for at least the past three or four years.”