THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2008
Glenbrook S. Last Local Team Standing In Post-Season
One by one they fell, until only one was left.
That one boys water polo team that has survived the IHSA's sectional competition is Glenbrook South, the top seeded team in the Glenbrook North sectional.
The Titans rolled through St. Viator and New Trier last week and then capped off their sectional work with a dominating 9-2 win over Evanston for the sectional title and their first berth in the state's elite eight in the sport.
The Titans will face Lyons in the state quarterfinals tomorrow (Thursday) at 5:45 p.m. at Stevenson. Oher schools in the elite eight are the host Patriots, Sandburg, York, Schaumburg, defending state champion Fenwick, and Naperville Central, the only team to beat the Titans this season.
"We have had boys water polo at Glenbrook for nine years, and I've been involved in the program for eight years," said head Titan coach Dave Lieberman. "This has been a goal of ours for several years, and we've been close, but not quite there. The farthest we've ever gotten in the post-season is as a sectional semifinalist."
The Titans are 28-1 and feature a balanced offense and efficient defense that bends a bit but rarely breaks. They spread the wealth around in their scoring, but they do have two leading goal-getters in Chris DeLetto and Ben Hengels. Goalie Ben May has been outstanding all season and continued that level of play in the sectional. In a 16-6 win over ninth-seeded St. Viator, the Titans broke open a tight game early with a six-goal barrage in the second period, to take a 9-3 halftime lead.
In the only post-season game in which the Titans were challenged, they edged New Trier, 6-5, in the sectional semifinal. In the finale against Evanston, DeLetto scored 5 times, Hengels twice, and Ryan Landgren and Brandon Stengren once each.
In the biggest surprise among area sectionals, top-seeded Conant lost, 10-6, to second-seeded Schaumburg in the Hoffman Estates sectional. The Cougars got a quick early goal from John Hansen, but most of the rest of the match was Schaumburg's, as they mounted a tight, physical defense. Cougar coach Erik Hauser was philosophical and positive afterward, however.
"Yeah, we had a disappointing day, but I'm glad we won our conference and had a school-record 27 wins (a 27 -5-1 mark)," he said. "We've had a great season and today we played a good game, but they were better."