Girls Water Polo: New Trier pulls away from Lincoln-Way Central late

Updated: May 18, 2012 10:23PM

New Trier was generating so many quality offensive chances in Friday’s state quarterfinal game against Lincoln-Way Central that the Trevians figured they’d have to start scoring at some point.

After Central had tied the game at 5-5 early in the fourth quarter, the Trevians finally found their scoring touch. They scored four unanswered goals, two coming on rebounds by junior Lindsey Siegel, to pull away for a 9-6 victory. New Trier will face defending state champion Fenwick at 12:45 p.m. in the semifinals Saturday.

“We had to hit our shots,” New Trier coach Matt Wendt said. “We started putting our shots away (in the fourth) and we got a couple of lucky rebound goals to be honest. We just really weren’t putting away our shots in the first half.”

Despite that, New Trier (27-5-1) held a 5-3 lead at the half. Offense was at a premium in the third quarter, however. The lone goal came from Lincoln-Way Central sophomore Michelle Dundek on a lob shot from the middle of the pool.

Those were the kind of shots available to the Knights (22-10), who saw superstar junior Danijela Jackovich sometimes quadruple-teamed defensively. That didn’t stop Jackovich from scoring four goals, giving her an even 150 on the season. That included the tying goal in the fourth when Jackovich fended off two defenders and the goalie and still put in the goal to make it 5-5.

“Unbelievable,” Wendt said. “We were doing exactly what we were supposed to do and she still scored. What are you going to do? We needed to focus on Danijela. She could make the Olympic team someday, she’s that good.”

Though the game was tied, New Trier never trailed in the game and the Trevians came back to take the lead once again. Stars Isabelle Baneaux and Erika Nothnagel each scored around the two rebound goals from Siegel, who was the fifth leading scorer on the team coming into the state tournament.

“They call me the sneaky player,” Siegel said. “I’m always somehow there and shove it in the goal when we need it.”

Jackovich scored again late in the game, but it was too late for the Knights, who were making their first-ever trip to the state tournament.

“We knew they were faster than us,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Karen Desruisseaux said. “They did that circle swim and we just had too many ejections and turnovers out of our timeouts.”

New Trier hasn’t faced Fenwick in years, but the Trevians will have to get past the Friars to reach the state title game Saturday night.

“Fenwick does not have many weaknesses, if any,” Wendt said. “We’re going to have to play a technically perfect game with a lot of effort. We have our best game in us still. We’re going to need it against Fenwick.”

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