It was a time in the game when many boys water polo teams would have caved — but not Barrington.
The Broncos lost 16-9 to Fenwick in the quarterfinals of the state tournament at Stevenson on Friday, May 22. With 2:22 left in the second quarter, a Friars goal gave them a 6-2 lead. Entering the tournament ranked No. 1 by illpolo.com and with a 32-1 record, it appeared Fenwick would cruise to an easy victory.
But goals by Barrington sophomore Chase Lesniak and senior Matt Gouskos to close the half cut the deficit to 6-4, altering the game’s narrative.
“We knew if we could swim with them and play stifling defense, we had a chance,” Barrington coach Rob Emary said. “We really charged hard and kept playing hard the whole time. We weren’t letting them have any easy shots. We started to believe a little bit.”
That belief translated to results. When senior Charlie Hoffman fired a shot inside the right post with 2:33 left in the third quarter, the Broncos tied the game at 7-7. Five different Broncos accounted for the goals, revealing Barrington’s depth.
“To come out and keep playing, to fight through and give [the Friars] a run for their money, it was awesome,” Gouskos said.
Over the game’s final nine minutes, Fenwick’s senior-laden lineup wore down Barrington. The Friars outscored the Broncos 7-2 the rest of the game. The result was a disappointing conclusion to the season. But optimism about the program’s future overshadowed the defeat.
Barrington began the 2015 season winning its first 22 games (it finished with a 29-3 record), and won the Mid-Suburban League championship and Schaumburg Sectional. Of the 20 players on the state tournament roster, half were sophomores (eight) or juniors (two).
“We are really heavy at the top and really heavy at the bottom,” Emary said. “Our sophomores are already talking about next year and two years from now, how we want to be together, we want to be more fit, we want to be more fundamentally sound as a water polo team.”
Lesniak led the Broncos this spring with 91 goals and 72 assists. He and sophomores John Fischer, Mitch Gavars and Riley Lehmann should form the core of the 2016 squad. Marshall Mathias led all seniors with 87 goals, followed by Gouskos (45) and Hoffman (42).
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And while Barrington did not win a game in the state tournament, its participation in the quarterfinals and comeback against Fenwick lends credence to a program that believes it is on the rise.
“I feel like we’ve left the program in a good position to do well,” Gouskos said. “What we did shows the younger guys that you don’t have to be afraid of these big teams with all of these accomplishments.”
Kerr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter: @prepspioneer