Water polo sectionals belong to New Trier

Through good and bad, the New Trier girls water polo team throws up a hand sign that could be mistaken for devil horns. Instead, the gesture in American Sign Language offers a more wholesome message.

“I love you.”

The Trevians were feeling the love following an 8-4 sectional championship victory over conference foe Maine South on Saturday afternoon, May 16, at Glenbrook South.

“That’s become a big symbol of our team because I think that really represents how much we really care for each other and the emotion that we have is really positive,” New Trier’s Amalia Baber Ciavarella said.

Coach John Przekota noted the leadership of captains Ashley O’Brien and Hailey Kalainov in furthering the culture and dynamic of the team.

The Trevians have not lost since April 18.

“We didn’t decide on captains until the week before the conference tournament,” Przekota said. “We wanted our senior leaders to lead and our captains to come through naturally. So when we named captains it was like, ‘yes, that makes sense.'”

The Trevians advance to Tuesday’s supersectional back at Glenbrook South at 6:30 p.m. New Trier will play York, which defeated Fenwick 9-7 in the Oak Park Sectional final. York and New Trier have split a pair of games this season.

“We’re all best friends in and outside of the water,” O’Brien said. “So that dynamic, moving that on to the underclassmen and really using that energy, because we know what it felt like the last three years and now we want to win. We want to win state.”

New Trier jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Maine South, only for the Hawks to pull within a goal, 3-2, in the second period.

Przekota called the first of two critical timeouts following the Hawks’ second goal with 4 minutes remaining in the first half.

Out of the timeout, Julia Wesemann was the beneficiary of a play-design for a quick goal, just 15 seconds after the break, to put the Trevians back ahead.

In the third period, the Trevians executed similarly, with Helena Malayter scoring less than 20 seconds out of a timeout to push New Trier’s lead to 5-3.

“It speaks to the mindset that we’ve been working on all year,” Przekota said. “We can only control the next play that’s in front of us. Whatever’s happened in the past we’ve got to leave behind us and move on and take care of what we can take care of.”

Malayer netted three goals for the Trevians, as did Baber Ciavarella. Wesemann and Cora LaVigne scored once each.

Kalainov made a note of the positivity her team plays with and how that helped with those two goals that came immediately following timeouts.

“The energy we really carried came from our teammates and our coach really (lifted) us up and all of our teammates as a collective (lift) each other up,” Kalainov said. “We knew what we had to do and I think we executed it really well.”

Trevian boys win 7th straight sectional

A lot goes unseen in the pool during a chaotic water polo match, especially between two traditionally strong programs.

The defensive play of Danny Asinki and David Cunningham, though, did not go unnoticed, at least by New Trier coach David Rafferty-Flatter, during an 11-3 Trevians win over Evanston for a sectional championship Saturday morning, May 16, at Glenbrook South.

“Defensively they’re taking some of (Evanston’s) better players and trying to take them out of their offense,” Rafferty-Flatter said. “That takes brain power. That takes energy. It doesn’t show, there’s no stat for that, right? Watching it and seeing these guys quarterback it together … was a masterclass.”

New Trier’s defense allowed just two goals in the first half and locked down even more in the second.

“The way I play, I’d always rather not get scored on than score,” Asinski said. “You play six-man offense. You’ll find ways to score, especially with the talent and skill we have and experience. As a team we’ll find ways to score, but when they try to 1-on-1 you or run (isolation) plays or 3 on 2, that’s where you can get scored on. That’s where I try to focus on making sure I don’t get scored on at all.”

The Trevians led by one or two goals through much of the first half, with the result still in doubt early in the third period.

Following an Evanston goal by Colin Garton, the Trevians Liam Quish fired a decisive left-handed shot into the right corner of the goal 15 seconds of gameplay later for a 6-3 Trevians advantage with 3:53 to go in the third period.

The Wildkits did not score again.

“It’s a relief valve on that pressure that had started to build,” Rafferty-Flatter said of the goal. “It releases that pressure and then it allows the guys to start taking a breath and go, ‘oh yea we know what to do here.'”

New Trier was led by three goals apiece from Rafi Naftali and Philip Wesemann. Ethan Kim scored twice, while Asinski, Cunningham, Willem Van Der Voort, Henry McKenzie and Connor Caceres added a goal each.The sectional win was a good feeling for Cunningham, as New Trier had split with the Wildkits in two matchups this season.

“It’s extremely satisfying after losing to them (8-7) earlier in the season,” Cunningham said. “Playing with these kids over the winter to get the last laugh.”

The win clinched a Tuesday supersectional berth at 5:15 p.m. back at Glenbrook South for New Trier, which they will take on York. The Trevians lost both of their matchups with the Dukes this season.

The Trevians have now won seven straight sectionals, which in past years has meant a state-finals appearance. This year, however, the a supersectional round separates the sectional and state.

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