Girls Water Polo: Fenwick knocks out Lyons in third overtime

Updated: May 12, 2012 6:29PM

All throughout Fenwick’s York Sectional championship game against Lyons Saturday, the focus of the Lions’ defense was on Fenwick sophomore Cara Borkevec.

There was a good reason for that. She scored four of Fenwick’s six goals as the score was tied at 6-6 after two overtimes.

Not surprisingly, at the outset of the sudden-victory third overtime, Borkevec quickly found herself with the ball. When two defenders collapsed on her, however, she found teammate Haley Wickham open near the net. Wickham put the ball in 13 seconds into the period to give the Friars a 7-6 win and give them a chance to defend their state championship at Stevenson next weekend.

“I knew going into the swim-off (to start the third overtime) that it worked a few times getting some kick-outs there,” Borkevec said. “When they both came toward me, seeing my teammate Haley open, it wall worked out perfectly. When I threw her the pass, I knew that she could do it and I was just believing in her 100 percent and it worked out. We’re so excited.”

Fenwick (29-3) took control early, as goals from Borkevec and Maureen Barron in a span of 28 seconds in the second quarter gave the Friars a 4-2 lead. But Lyons (30-2-1) would not quit. Kirby Kaptur converted a penalty shot and Liz Kosin scored with 12 seconds left in the half to tie the game at 4-4 going into halftime.

Neither team scored in the second half until Borkevec converted with 6:12 left in the fourth quarter to give Fenwick a 5-4 lead. It proved to be short-lived, however, as Carrie Nacht answered 27 seconds later to tie it at 5-5. Kosin scored in the first overtime for Lyons and Borkevec in the second for Fenwick, forcing sudden victory.

“We had a 4-2 lead on them, we thought we were going to keep going,” Fenwick coach John Wagner said. “They found a way to get us back into playing that slow game. We knew it was going to be one of those games. I told the girls at the beginning of the game, it’s going to be a seven-minute game. I didn’t know we were going to go another seven.”

Coming in as the sectional’s top seed, Lyons was understandably emotional after the game as they were hoping to win the program’s second state championship since water polo became an IHSA sport in 2002.

“I can’t put it into words,” Lyons coach Derrick Brace said. “Both teams had good opportunities. Fenwick capitalized, we didn’t. They did a nice job.”

Fenwick now turns its attention to the state tournament next weekend.

“It’s really exciting,” Borkevec said. “We’re on a mission and we know what we can do.”

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