Loyola Academy Water Polo: Ramblers Sweep New Trier in Sectional Championships

After seeing the lead cut to 8-4 early in the fourth quarter, Loyola Academy girls water polo coach Rich Schici knew exactly what he wanted with his team having a man advantage.

The Ramblers ran their ideal set play for six-on-five situations with a small adjustment and it worked to perfection.

Brittany Wallace found Evan Swenson with a cross-pool pass and the sophomore buried it in the back of the net, sparking an opening 3-goal run for the Ramblers that helped give Loyola an 11-7 victory over New Trier in the Illinois High School Association's (IHSA) Northbrook Sectional Championship.

The win was part of a Loyola championship sweep at Glenbrook North on Saturday afternoon. The boys water polo team followed with a dominating 16-11 victory over the Trevians to secure back-to-back sectional championships.

“I can’t explain it. I went to state for swimming, but everyone says compared to this, it’s just ridiculous,” Swenson said. “I’m just excited.”

Loyola got off to an almost flawless start against New Trier, jumping out to a 5-0 lead after the first quarter and leading 8-2 at the half. The Ramblers defense didn’t allow New Trier’s offense to get a lot of scoring opportunities inside five meters and created a number of transition opportunities.

“We want to make the girls work for their passes and work for their shots, press them on the perimeter.” Schici said. “It was working early. New Trier had a couple of bad passes, turnovers for us that resulted in counterattack goals.

New Trier climbed back into the match with 2 goals in the third quarter. Goalie Alexandra Saclarides came up with a number of big saves to keep the Trevians within striking distance.

“She had a great tournament,” New Trier coach Matt Wendt said of Saclarides. “She blocked well, she had great outlet passes. She’s tough.”

In the end Loyola proved to be too much for New Trier. Swenson finished with 4 goals and senior Brittany Wallace chipped in 2.

Loyola will face St. Ignatius, a team the Ramblers lost to twice this season, in the state quarterfinals on Thursday night in Lincolnshire.

“It’s hard to beat a team three times in one year so hopefully we’ll be on the flip side of that,” Schici said.

Everything was working for Loyola offensively. The Ramblers shot well from the perimeter and were able to feed the ball into the middle for leading scorer Charlie Dowdle. He said crisp ball movement was the key to his team's offensive execution.

“We’ve been working on that since the end of Catholic League, moving the ball a lot faster, not letting the ball hit the water, making good passes,” Dowdle said.

On the defensive end, Loyola was able to contain New Trier throughout much of the game. After securing a 12-5 halftime lead, the Ramblers sat back to defend the counterattacks and were able to keep a comfortable cushion.

“We don’t focus on one player,” Loyola coach Daniel Hengelmann said. “When we play really good team defense, we’re really good. They know how to do it, it just doesn’t always come.”

New Trier never cut the deficit under 6 points before a couple of garbage-time scores made the final margin 5 goals.

Loyola was led by Dowdle, who finished with 6 goals. Robbie O'Connor had 12 saves for the Ramblers. Nate Urban and Jordan Palmer each had 3 goals for New Trier.

The Ramblers will face McHenry in the state quarterfinals in Lincolnshire on Friday night at Stevenson High School.

“On a scale of one to 10, it was a 10,” Hengelmann said of his team’s performance. “These kids played out of their minds.”