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ILLINOIS WATER POLO |
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Saturday - March 13, 2004 GAME RECAPS
Fenwick's Huge Comeback Topples Brother Rice By Aaron Brown
Oak Park, IL -- Apparently, the perennial water polo powerhouses in Illinois have never heard of the word parity. At least that is the impression that Fenwick and Brother Rice gave as they mowed through their competition at the Dan Lynch Memorial Tournament this weekend at Fenwick High School to advance to the championship game of the tournament.
Brother Rice let a 4-1 halftime lead slip away in the second half, as the host team scored ten goals in a wild finish that gave Fenwick an 11-9 victory. For nearly three quarters, the Crusaders looked like the same dominant team that won the state championship last season, but the fourth quarter proved that Fenwick is once again the favorite to win the title in 2004.
The Crusaders' Brian Kuczynski started the scoring on a powerplay opportunity in the first quarter to put Brother Rice on top 1-0. Fenwick got the equalizer just moments later, as they did not take a shot on their own powerplay opportunity, but Chris Parolin ended the possession with a goal from two meters out to tie it at 1-1. Fernando Chavez put Brother Rice back on top with a rebound goal with 3:02 remaining in the opening period.
The Crusaders held that lead into the second quarter, but Fenwick had a chance to tie the game when Kevin Kysiak drew a 4-meter penalty on Brother Rice goalie Dan Fadden. Chris Parolin's penalty shot to the left corner was denied by Fadden to keep the Crusaders ahead with 5:15 left in the half. The momentum shifted competely in Brother Rice's favor, and they capitalized when Mark DiCola scored on a backhand shot while being double-teamed at two meters to make the score 3-1. Fenwick missed on two straight powerplay opportunities in the next two minutes, and DiCola made them pay with another backhand shot to give the Crusaders a 4-1 lead at halftime.
Both teams played string defense to start the second half, but Fenwick got on the board first as Luke Baldwin drove down the left side to score and cut the lead to 4-2. Brother Rice responded once again as Kuczynski scored his second goal of the game from seven meters out. A minute later, Parolin assisted on a Mark Melnyk goal from two meters, and Fenwick tied it on their next possession as Parolin scored on a powerplay goal to make it 5-5 with 1:57 remaining in the third quarter.
It looked like Fenwick might have the momentum, but the Crusaders acted quickly, scoring on their next two possessions. Nick Valasquez scored from the left wing on a pass from Ulysses Cortez to put Rice back on top 6-5, and Kuczynski scored his third goal from seven meters on a shot that deflected off Fenwick goalie Dan Evon and went into the net. Fenwick turned the ball over on their last possession and Brother Rice took a seemingly comfortable 7-5 lead into the fourth quarter.
Fenwick scored first in the fourth quarter on Parolin's shot from two meters. The left-handed toss went over Fadden and into the net to make the lead 7-6 with 6:16 remaining in the game. Once again, Brother Rice reacted as Cortez waited until their powerplay opportunity had ended to send a skip shot past Evon from the right wing to make it 8-6 with 5:28 left.
The momentum changed yet again as Parolin drew a four meter penalty on a breakaway with 4:42 left, and he was not denied by Fadden this time as he made the score 8-7. Parolin then scored his third goal of the quarter as he drove inside his defender and slammed home a shot from two meters to tie the game at 8-8. This time, Brother Rice had no answer, and Fenwick took its' first lead of the game with 3:27 left as Kysiak scored on a transition goal to give the Friars a 9-8 lead. The score came after Kuczynski was fouled outside of seven meters, but he held the ball for a few seconds before shooting, and his goal was disallowed.
Fenwick would score twice more to take an 11-8 lead with under two minutes to play. Melnyk scored his second goal as he skipped a shot in from the left side, and Paul Klotz scored on a powerplay with 1:52 remaining to give Fenwick a three goal lead. DiCola scored for Brother Rice with 0:11 left in the game to make it 11-9, but there was not enough time to get the ball back as Fenwick ran out the clock to secure the victory.
Fenwick outscored Brother Rice 10-5 in the second half, and the difference was 6-2 in the fourth quarter. Brother Rice appeared dominant for much of the game, but in the end, Fenwick's depth was too much, and Parolin proved why he is a favorite for player-of-the-year honors with three straight goals in the fourth quarter.
Fenwick's next game is at Loyola (4-0) on Tuesday, while Brother Rice will play host to Mt Carmel (0-4) on Tuesday night as well.
To view the entire tournament schedule, click here.
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