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WEEK 7 TOURNAMENTS

TOURNAMENT TO WATCH

GBS TOURNAMENT

Much of the focus this weekend turns to the Glenbrook South Tournament, which features two of the top five teams in #3 Naperville North and #4 New Trier in a nine-team, eighteen-game event that gets going on Friday afternoon. Also in the mix are the hosts, Evanston, Hersey, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Palatine, and Prospect in an event that should feature several close contests based on last year's results. The Trevians edged the Huskies for the title by one goal, while the Huskies later got past the Titans by one goal for second place in the 2012 edition.

OTHER KEY TOURNAMENTS

BROTHER RICE TOURNAMENT

The field at the Brother Tournament is stacked, with teams like Curie, Latin, Lockport, Hinsdale Central, Sandburg, St Patrick, and St Rita joining the hosts for a sixteen-game event that follows a championship format. The Crusaders will be looking to repeat as champions once again, but they will face a tough road just in their own group, which includes HC, Sandburg, and St Patrick. The winner of the group advances to take on the team that emerges from a group featuring Curie, Latin, Lockport, and St Rita.

The Mustangs' Co-Ed Tourney is an all-day event that features Bradley, Maine South, and Neuqua Valley playing six games beginning at 8:35am and alternating between boys' and girls' contests.

The Mustangs are set to host their second tournament at their new facility; this time around, they invited Conant, H-F, and Naperville Central for a six-game tourney that kicks off on Saturday morning.

GAME PREVIEWS (Saturday, April 20)

TOURNAMENT TO WATCH

ST IGNATIUS TOURNAMENT

The Wolfpack's college-style tournament keeps rolling along on Saturday with ten more contests after the eight attending teams got started with six games on Friday night. The hosts are joined by Buffalo Grove, GBN, Loyola, Lyons, Marian, New Trier, and Waubonsie Valley beginning at 8:00am.

OTHER KEY TOURNAMENTS

GBN TOURNAMENT

Glenbrook North plays host to Highland Park, Libertyville, LWE, and St Viator in a ten-game event that uses both of the facilities' pools and only takes five hours to complete. Libertyville, LWE, and the hosts each finished with 3-1 records here last season, so expect several highly-competitive fixtures between evenly-matched teams.

METEA TOURNAMENT

The Mustangs' Co-Ed Tourney is an all-day event that features Maine South, Neuqua Valley, and a team to be announced later as they play six games beginning at 7:45am.

NAPERVILLE CENTRAL TOURNAMENT

The Redhawks' four team tournament continues on Saturday, alternating between Varsity and JV-level contests. They are joined by Evanston, Jenison, and Sandburg.

NAPERVILLE NORTH TOURNAMENT

The Huskies are set to host a five-team, nine-game event; the hosts are joined by Bradley, Lockport, Oak Park, Hinsdale Central, and Whitney Young on Saturday afternoon.

STEVENSON TOURNAMENT

The battle between Illinois and Michigan continues on Saturday as the fifth-ranked hosts, #1 Fenwick, #3 Mother McAuley, and #4 Mundelein square off with #1 Rockford, #3 Skyline, #4 Okemos, and #8 EGR.

OTHER KEY GAMES

10:00am #21 Wheeling at #7 LWC

11:00am #43 LWW at #16 STC North

GAME RECAPS (Saturday, April 20) - Click the logos for complete tournament coverage

GBS TOURNAMENT

Naperville North Flexes Muscles In Tournament Victory
The Huskies rushed out to a 6-2 halftime lead en route to a dominant 14-4 win over New Trier and also beat Evanston, Glenbrook South, and Lake Forest to win the GBS Tournament on Saturday. Tournament MVP Eric Curia scored 15 goals and Nolan Roberts scored 11 times, including 4 goals each in the big final game win over the Trevians. Jordan Palmer scored 14 goals to help New Trier take second place, whille Cole Hamilton scored 6 key goals to help the hosts finish in third position. Palatine's Christian Kalfas and Kristian Kalev combined to score 23 goals in the Pirates' fourth place run, which included wins over Lake Forest and Libertyville.

METEA TOURNAMENT

Wildcats Impress At Metea Valley Tournament
Alex Thoele scored 14 goals and John Hedderman made 33 saves to help Neuqua Valley get past Bradley, Maine South and the hosts to win the Metea Valley Tournament on Saturday. Simon Shatinsky and Will Russell each scored 6 goals and Brian DePuy contributed in a major way to aid in the Wildcats' success.

MUNDELEIN TOURNAMENT

Burke Leads Cougars To Mundelein Title
John Burke scored 17 goals and drew 14 ejections as Conant earned wins over H-F, Naperville Central, and the hosts to win the Mundelein Tournament on Saturday. The Redhawks edged the Mustangs in four overtimes to claim second place with a 2-1 record, while the Vikings beat the hosts 8-7 to finish with one win at the event.

OTHER KEY GAMES

STC North 12 Lincoln-Way West 6

Collin Bawolek made 17 saves to help lead the North Stars to a 12-6 victory over LWW.

GAME RECAPS (Saturday, April 20) - Click the logos for complete tournament coverage

METEA TOURNAMENT

Bradley, Maine South, Neuqua Claim Success at Metea Tournament
Three teams went 2-1 to share the spoils at the Metea Valley Tournament on Saturday, as Bradley won twice but lost to Neuqua, Neuqua won twice but lost to Maine South, and Maine South won twice but lost to Bradley.

NAPERVILLE CENTRAL TOURNAMENT

Sandburg Makes Things Interesting Before Winning NC Tournament
Cara Hays scored a triple-overtime game-winning goal in Sandburg's 6-5 win over Evanston to finish the Naperville Central Tournament with a 3-0 record; the goal came less than 24 hours after Hays scored two key fourth quarter goals in the Eagles' 6-5 win over the hosts. Sandburg also limited Jenison to one goal in a 7-1 win on Saturday en route to the tournament title. The Redhawks finished in second place after shutting out the Wildkits and beating Jenison for the second time in 2013. The visitors from Michigan shut down Evanston 4-0 on Friday night to cross the state border with one win.

NAPERVILLE NORTH TOURNAMENT

Oak Park Kinda, Sorta Wins Naperville North Tournament
Katie Appell scored 16 goals to lead the Huskies to wins over Lockport, Whitney Young, and the hosts on Saturday as OPRF posted a 3-1 record in Naperville on Saturday. However, the Huskies lost to conference foe Hinsdale Central during the day, so they finished with the same number of losses as the Red Devils and Naperville North. Those teams only played three games and finished with 2-1 records, so my math indicates that 3 is better than 2 and Oak Park wins. Otherwise, Lockport went 2-2 with wins over Hinsdale and Whitney Young and the Dolphins went 0-4 regardless of Jessie Cronin's 10-goal performance.

ST IGNATIUS TOURNAMENT

Wolfpack Go Undefeated To Claim Tournament Title
St Ignatius beat Loyola and New Trier on Friday night and added wins over H-F and Waubonsie Valley on Saturday to end the weekend with a 4-0 record and their own tournament title. Becky Insalaco scored 16 goals and Jenny Stelnicki played earned the majority share of two shutouts in goal en route to the perfect weekend for SICP. Loyola and New Trier both went 3-1 to share second place; both teams lost on Friday to the hosts but did not face each other since they already do during the regular season. Evan Swenson and Marta Considine combined to score 26 goals for the Ramblers in their successful run, while Alexana Astor and Lindsey Siegel each scored 7 goals to pace the Trevians, while Kelsey Willian scored a prom date via the @illpolo Twitter account. H-F and Lyons both went 2-2 over the weekend at UIC.

STEVENSON TOURNAMENT

Illinois' Best Dominate Michigan Teams at Stevenson
The trio of #1 Fenwick, #3 Mother McAuley, and #4 Mundelein went undefeated over the weekend against some of Michigan's best teams to help Illinois post a 14-2 record against Michigan at Stevenson. The hosts lost an overtime thriller to #1 Rockford 6-5 on Friday and dropped a close 7-5 decision to #4 Okemos, but bounced back on Saturday with two wins to help the state's cause. Check the tournament report for full recaps and statistics from a performance that should make the water polo community in Illinois proud.