BOYS WATER POLO
Riverside Brookfield water polo coach Chris Tabor characterizes his team as a group of fast finishers. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs were unable to save their best for last during a 12-7 loss Friday against Lockport.
Despite the setback in the pool, the Bulldogs certainly did not lose perspective on the magnitude of the memorable evening as they celebrated Senior Night and the final water polo match ever to be played at their pool. Construction on a new pool facility begins in the near future.
“This was actually the last water polo game that ever will be played in this pool-they’re tearing it down,” Tabor said. “That was a big thing for our team. Lockport is the toughest team we have played this year. I expected it to be a close game, and I think it was even closer than the score indicated.”
In the opening quarter, Lockport (17-10) jumped out to a 4-1 lead, which it would never relinquish during the game. Paul Ivnik, who established himself early as a dominating presence in the middle of the Porters’ offensive sets, tallied six goals off eight shot attempts. His teammate Ben Bentley added a pair of goals.
Trailing 7-3 at the half, RB stormed back into the game with goals from Pat Rankin and Kevin Wolak to cut the deficit to 7-5 with 4:55 left in the third. Wolak (three goals) added a break away goal in the waning seconds of the quarter to make it a 9-6 score.
One of the Bulldogs’ several promising underclassmen, Terry Crowley, scored the lone goal for RB during the fourth quarter. Sophomore Graham Risley also chipped in a goal.
“This game meant a lot to us,” Wolak said. “This is only our fourth year as a team competing so we did a good job against a good team [Lockport]. We had a club team before, but my freshman year was the first year that we had it as a real sport.”
In addition to honoring Wolak, the Bulldogs with their families, friends and fans also recognized seniors Drew Clinton, Sam Lauritsen, Pat Rankin and Trey Vogel.
“Senior Night is a really great thing,” said Lauritsen. “Our seniors are the heart of our varsity team. I’ve been with these guys in swimming and water polo for three years. It’s great we could be together for this moment.”
The visiting Porters also were happy to simply earn a win over a quality team like RB, which actually had more shots on goal (24) than Lockport (22).
“We’re playing really well as team right now,” Ivnik said. “When we were able to get the lead early, it let us to sit back and play our game.”
As for the Bulldogs (13-9), they can’t wait to start the state playoffs.
“I think we’re in a pretty good spot,” Tabor said. “We need to pinpoint a few things. Hopefully, we can be very sharp when we go into sectionals against Oak Park. Since we’re in the toughest sectional in the state, we have our work cut out for us if we want to make some noise.”