Girls Water Polo: Rebecca Mathews leads Homewood-Flossmoor past Lincoln-Way East

Updated: May 2, 2012 8:05PM

It didn’t come without a strong fight from Lincoln-Way East, but Homewood-Flossmoor clinched at least a share of its third straight SouthWest Suburban Blue girls water polo title Wednesday.

Senior Rebecca Mathews scored four goals and the Vikings held the Griffins to one second-half score in a 7-4 win in Flossmoor.

“Our defense was good today,” Mathews said. “If our defense is good, we’re pretty tough to beat.”

East (10-14, 4-9) hung tough early and led 3-2 midway through the second quarter after Zoe McCabe’s second goal.

H-F (18-9, 11-1) responded by closing the half on a 3-0 run, Mathews scoring twice in the hole and Anna Tenny finding the net from outside.

Goalie Trish Paul (13 saves) kept the Griffins in the game and they were within 6-4 with 4:43 left in the third after a Haley McCabe score, but H-F put the clamps on the rest of the way and Claire Duncan added an insurance goal.

“We’re finally starting to get back into our defensive rhythm,” H-F coach Pat Duignan said. “It’s nice to win conference again. We have a tough conference with very tough teams.”

This year’s accomplishments mean all the more considering H-F was thought to be in a bit of a rebuilding mode after losing a heralded senior class last season.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” Mathews said. “We’ve had people step up big. Like Lauren Gallagher making shots from the outside. She scored our first goal today. It feels good to win conference again.”

The Vikings can take the title outright with a win Friday over Sandburg.

East coach Ryan Lodes, meanwhile, had mixed feelings about his team’s play.

“What we did defensively against a great player like (Mathews), I couldn’t be more proud of,” he said. “Emily Koss did great in the defensive hole. We just need to score.”

Anna Shirer made 10 saves for H-F. Stephanie Bitz scored once for East.

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