Garton's Goal Sinks Trevs For 10th Straight Polo Win

Just like Michael Jordan whenever he suffered a loss to a rival back in his basketball heyday with the Chicago Bulls, Colin Garton took a couple of water polo defeats against New Trier last year personally.

And Tuesday night at the Evanston pool, Garton delivered some payback.

The ETHS junior scored the game-winning goal with 53 seconds remaining as the Wildkits edged New Trier 8-7 and sank their rivals for the first time since the 2018 season.

Garton’s goal --- his third of the game --- helped the Kits extend their season record to a perfect 10-0, one of the best starts to a season in program history. Teammate Heath Lennon also contributed three goals and goalie Jake Kaplan recorded 15 saves for the winners.

The victory earned much more than bragging rights in a neighborhood rivalry. Since teams in the Central Suburban League only meet once during the regular season, now the Kits are lined up to claim potential No. 1 seeds for the CSL and sectional tournaments if they can take care of business between now and then.

It was also the first win over the Trevians for second-year head coach Alex Negronida. And lifting that New Trier monkey off the backs of the Orange and Blue provided a confidence boost going forward for the winners.

“I am super proud of all of these guys. I just got done telling that was the best I’ve ever seen them play, collectively,” Negronida said. “It got a little dicey there at the finish, but they kept fighting and they never gave up. They were on top of their game and we had incredible resiliency as a team tonight.

“It feels great to beat New Trier. But at the end of the day, the game we want to win against them is in the middle of May (Illinois High School Association sectional tournament). We can’t get too high about one win. The ultimate goal is to win the sectional. Now we know we can compete with them, and now we know we can win the sectional if we play at that level again.”

Lennon and Garton have provided the 1-2 scoring punch for Evanston over the first nine games, including an 11-8 triumph Monday over previously unbeaten Niles West. But when both defenses tightened up in the second half, it became obvious that the final outcome would be decided in the last couple of possessions.

Garton made sure it was a happy ending.

“Our team’s energy was really something tonight, we were really hyped up,” Garton pointed out. “The coaches are always telling us it’s about the next play, the next goal, not four or five goals from now. So when I got the ball I checked the clock and saw it was near the end of the (30-second) shot clock. I saw their goalie (Zach Asinski) was on the right side, so I faked a shot to the right and shot it to the left.

“At that point I just felt I had to step up as a team leader. Like MJ (Jordan) I took it personally when we lost to them last year. Losing is annoying to me. I really want to win all the time. So getting the game-winning goal against New Trier is big, but our final goal is State. This is just one game.”

Plenty of drama still remained in the final ticks of the clock. A steal by Evanston’s Regis Loeffler with 45 seconds left in front of the net just about sealed the win, but the visitors had one last possession. Following a New Trier timeout, Liam Quish took the last shot for the Trevs and hit the crossbar as time expired.

The crossbar and side goalposts turned out to be an advantage for the home squad. After New Trier pulled within 7-6 at the 5 minute, 50 second mark remaining on a tally by Ethan Kim. While the ETHS offense stalled ---- the hosts went 12 minutes without a score in the second half --- goalie Kaplan twice denied Quish on left-handed perimeter shots.

And after that, New Trier twice hit the side post before a goal by Rafi Naftali finally pulled the Trevs even with 1:15 left in regulation.

An early scoring splurge by Lennon and lone goals by Will Plyter and Maxton Pomykalski helped the Kits build a 7-4 advantage by the start of the third period. But the Trevians kept chipping away and limited the hosts to just two shots on goal in the third period.

“We had a couple of shots to build that lead but we couldn’t get them,” Negronida noted. “But we had incredible resiliency and we fought back, just like New Trier did.”

The week, which will conclude with a tournament in Naperville, consists of seven games in six days for a Wildkit team that has exceeded the coach’s expectations to date.

“The core of our team last year was the sophomores, and they’ve done a lot of growing and maturing over the summer,” he said. “Our offense, and our shooting, have been a lot better than I thought they’d be. This is a special group.”

Garton pointed to the chemistry that is building between the players on a daily basis while the win streak mounts.

“We’ve stepped up to the challenge, and we’ve definitely improved as a team,” Garton said. “I’m most surprised at the way we’ve grown mentally. And as a team, our chemistry is a lot better than it was last year. We go to breakfast together, we’re over at each other’s houses all the time, and the bond between us is just so much stronger now.”