Junior Emerson Lacey and his many returning Riverside Brookfield High School boys water polo teammates remember the joy of winning last season’s sectional opener over Solorio.
“That game was like peak performance from everyone and it felt good to get a win in sectionals because we hadn’t won much,” Lacey said.
“That just proved that we were growing so much and were a much better team. It just boosted our spirits a bit, proved that we were good.”
After the Bulldogs (4-8) beat Warren 13-11 April 14, they not only had won three straight but already equaled their win total for 2025.
They’ve won four of six after an 0-6 start. The other victories are 11-2 over Rolling Meadows March 21, 17-7 over Hinsdale South April 8 and 10-3 over Maine East April 10.
“Definitely this year is our best year. It’s our biggest team so far,” senior Henry Manning said. “We all know each other. That’s a big step into how well we perform in the water. I definitely could see from the beginning we had room to improve and we’ve grown into it well.”
That’s saying a lot, considering RBHS graduated leading scorer Avi Ponnappan and goalie Martynas Bieliasukas, who set documented program records for saves in a season and one match.
Lacey (9 goals, 2 assists) leads the Bulldogs’ scoring. Other offensive leaders are junior Marcello George and sophomore Ryan Meshke (6 goals each) and Manning, juniors AJ Douglas and Victor DiForti (3 goals each). George and DiForti have three assists.
“They’ve grown so much in game awareness, which is really lovely to see because it’s harder to teach the game sense. And playing tougher competition definitely helps,” RBHS assistant coach Tatum Bruno said.
“I’ve been really pleased with the amount of people willing to step up and shoot, make those assists, extra passes so other people can score. I’s nice to see multiple guys step up and become those role players they needed to be.”
The Warren victory is perhaps the sweetest, considering RBHS trailed 6-1 early.
“We were driving, scoring on drives, putting away all our shots,” sophomore goalie Enzo George said. “That was a really good team win. I felt like it really showed how we’ve really improved lately.”
Bruno said several players have progressed further from playing offseason water polo. Enzo George (28 saves) did so, along with help from RBHS girls coach and former college goalie Amy Frey in making the transition from being last year’s junior varsity goalie.
“(Enzo has) done a really good job stepping up to fill a really big role,” Bruno said. “He’s really put in a good amount of work. He’s already trying to get better.”
LTHS boys water polo
Senior Ben Kozak and Lyons Township boys water polo teammates always come to matches well prepared.
“One of the things we’re most proud of is how conditioned we are,” said Kozak, a team captain with seniors Wesley Musgrove and Tommy Stamer.
“No matter how hard of a team we’re playing we tire them out. We make sure they have to work no matter what.”
Playing a tough schedule as usual, the Lions (10-6) are ranked No. 6 by Illpolo.com with five victories over top-15 opponents.
All losses are to higher-rated teams – three to No. 1 Stevenson (21-2 record) and once to No. 2 York (10-2 April 11), No. 5 Whitney Young (9-8 in OT March 28) after winning their first meeting 11-4 March 14 and No. 4 New Trier by just one goal (7-6 March 27).
“(New Trier) ended up beating Stevenson (12-11 March 28),” Kozak said. “I think a big thing is just matchups. There’s really no team we can’t compete against and that (result) was so important to show that.”
As returning starters or lineup regulars from last year’s 16-12 team, the captains and juniors Joaquin Fabrara of Brookfield, Collin McNeil and Vedran Petrovic are joined by senior Brice Hurley, junior Leo Obley, sophomore Tucker Offerbacher and freshmen Leo Frank and Tim Kozak, Ben’s brother.
Musgrove has a team-high 50 goals with 16 assists. Other offensive standouts include Ben Kozak (17 goals, team-high 38 assists), Stamer (15 goals, 8 assists), Fabrara (17 goals, 3 assists), Obloy (19 goals, 2 assists) and Tim Kozak (20 goals, 7 assists), McNeil and Offerbacher (8 goals each) and Frank (9 assists). Goalie Petkovic has 122 saves and 11 assists.
“We’ve had a lot of great experience so far. We’re trying to focus on saying active (offensively) and continuing to move, playing four quarters,” LTHS coach Doug Eichstaedt said.
“I think one of our strengths is we are a well- balanced team but we need to playing like that more often. Defensively we’ve been pretty solid.”
Defensive standouts include Ben Kozak (team-high 41 steals), who usually guards the opponents’ top player, McNeil and Hurley.
“If we can keep teams around 10 goals, we should have a pretty good chance of being in the game at the end. It’s just a matter of whether our offense is clicking,” Eichstaedt said.