Wildkits Keep Water Polo Season Alive With 4th Quarter Rally

It’s easy to get caught up in the moment when postseason play starts in any high school sport.

Just ask Glenbrook North boys water polo coach Marty Gibson.

Or Evanston senior Bjorn Sievert.

Gibson’s timeout call from the deck Saturday in the first round of the Glenbrook North Sectional tournament gave the Wildkits the opening they needed, and Sievert converted a subsequent penalty shot with 43 seconds remaining in regulation to help lift the No. 2 seeded Kits to an 8-6 double overtime victory over the Spartans.

Evanston, now 24-7 overall, dug itself out of a 5-1 hole in the fourth period and will meet Maine South next Friday in the tourney semifinals at 6:15 p.m. New Trier and Loyola Academy are matched up in the other semifinal, with the winners advancing to the 10 a.m. championship contest on May 11 at GBN.

Gibson tried to call a timeout after what he thought was a change of possession in the final minute of play, with ETHS still trailing 5-4. But after a discussion, the officials ruled that the GBN mentor had jumped the gun and neither side had possession at the time he yelled for a stoppage.

Sievert fired in the penalty shot --- the second one he made in the game --- and goals by teammates Ty Wlodek, Ben Cowan and Jonas Nissan in the overtime periods kept Evanston’s season alive.

The extended wait while the referees decided what to do about that incorrect timeout call didn’t do much for Sievert’s nerves.

“I was super nervous,” said the lanky senior. “I didn’t know if I wanted that kind of pressure. I’m just glad I made it. I missed a couple of penalty shots during the season but I wasn’t going to miss this one.

“How did we come back in the fourth quarter? We just figured it out. We needed a lot more movement because we didn’t move much in the first half.”

“We just went with the hot hand there at the end,” said ETHS head coach Kevin Auger. “In the second half we started pressuring them defensively, and we started moving offensively. But that call on the penalty shot was the game.

“This is what you call doing things the hard way. Glenbrook North played much better defensively than the first time we played them (a Wildkit win), and we didn’t move at all on offense until the fourth quarter. Then we started driving and we were moving more off the ball, instead of just waiting to be passed to out on the perimeter. It was just (more) effort.

“Bjorn played very well and he’s been big for us all year. But I wasn’t all that confident about the penalty shot. It depends on the (opposing) goalie and it depends on the (shooter) player. But I was confident in the choice of the player to take the shot. Sometimes, you just look for the hot hand.”

Sievert also contributed a couple of key steals in the fourth period as the Kits limited GBN to just one goal in the second half. The senior’s penalty shot with 5 minutes, 20 seconds left in the third period accounted for the only ETHS score until the winners finally got untracked in the final six minutes of regulation play.

Henry Chapon, Nissan and Matt Gorges all scored in succession, yet that still left the No. 2 seed trailing 5-4. Then Wlodek stole a pass in front of the Evanston goal with exactly one minute remaining.

Coming out of a timeout, the Wildkits worked the ball to hole set Chapon, but the senior standout came up short on his shot under pressure from the GBN defenders. That led to a scramble situation --- and the timeout that turned the tide.

Cowan tallied what turned out to be the game-winner with 1:12 left in the first OT, and Nissan provided the insurance with his goal in the second OT.

Freshman goalie Jake Kaplan was credited with 10 saves for the winners. Kaplan stepped in for the usual starter for ETHS, Rijad Dizdarevic, who missed the contest to attend his sister’s college graduation.