An early season victory over New Trier might have left the members of the Evanston boys water polo team feeling good about their prospects leading up to postseason play.
But the Trevians still have Evanston’s number when it matters most.
For the umpteenth time in program history, New Trier ended Evanston’s season on Saturday with a convincing 11-3 victory in the championship game of the Glenbrook South Sectional tournament.
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It was a disappointing conclusion to one of the best seasons in Wildkit history. Evanston finished 26-7 overall, just two wins shy of matching the single season record for the program, while New Trier advanced to Monday’s super-sectional at GBS with a 26-5 record.
New Trier was responsible for three of Evanston’s losses this spring. Saturday, the Trevian defense limited the Kits to goals by Heath Lennon in the first quarter, Oliver Macy in the second quarter, and Colin Garton in the third quarter.
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ETHS only trailed 4-2 at halftime and head coach Alex Negronida’s squad just didn’t have any punch remaining on offense.
“All the credit to New Trier, because they outplayed us at both ends,” Negronida said. “That’s a great-coached team and they had a really good game plan on defense. It’s never fun losing to New Trier. We just didn’t get it done.
“It’s frustrating because we know we’re capable of playing better. At halftime we talked about the fact that we had too many turnovers and not enough ball movement. Our passing could have been better today. We just gave them the ball too many times and we weren’t playing like we know we can.
“I’m still very proud of these guys. I think they’re one of the best teams this school has ever had and I’d put money on them against any of the teams we’ve had here in the past. And we have a lot to be excited about (for next year) because we have 75 percent of our starters back.”
Evanston advanced to the title game with an 11-8 triumph over Niles West on Friday. Garton fired in four goals --- all of them coming in the second period --- while Lennon, Will Plyter and Maxton Pomykalski contributed a pair of goals apiece for the winners. Pomykalski and Elijah Carter each notched a couple of assists.
Garton, Lennon, Will Plyter and Regis Loeffler were all named to the all-sectional team.
