Anticipating the hardest game of the Glenbrook North Tournament on April 19 against Buffalo Grove, the girls water polo team came out with energy and played stellar defense, winning the game with a total of 12 steals. 

“That game was actually a pretty good game despite the score being 12-4,” said senior Anika Moghe. “At the end of the game, we started racking up points a little more, but at the beginning, we got a 3-point lead, but it was kind of going back and forth a little bit. In the end, we were just the better team with our drives and our defense.”

The team won the tournament for the first time since 2015, beating Mundelein 13-0 in its first shutout win of the season.

“I think that felt really good because the whole season that was one of our goals, to get a shutout,” said Moghe. “We played our hardest defense against them, and we made sure that they didn’t get the opportunity to shoot.”

According to head coach John Fournier, it was awesome for the team to not to let up any goals against Mundelein.

“At the beginning of every game, I ask them ‘How many goals do you need to win a game?’” said Fournier. “Just one. We play lockdown defense. We work as a team, we call the switches, we help each other out. That’s [how] we’re going to succeed.”

According to sophomore Sienna Wilson, being aggressive when playing defense is important.

“The biggest thing is to get in front of your player because if you’re behind them, then they have both arms in front and they can get the ball,” said Wilson. “You’ll see [senior Meha Kratz] scream to get in front of the girl, because if you’re in front of them, then you can block the ball better.”

According to senior Jolie Zirlin, the team pulls up JV players to run plays and scrimmages during practice since the varsity team is so limited in the numbers of players on the team. 

“Our depth is something that we really struggle with because if one person is not in practice, it is so hard to run anything, or if one person is not at a game, it makes things a lot harder,” Zirlin said. 

Senior Maliha Kratz led the team with 81 goals and Wilson led the team in steals with 132. The team (20-6 Central Suburban LeagueSouth Division) placed fourth in conference.  

“I think this team is going to build off the success this year,” said Moghe. “Everything we’ve learned this year, all the people will take in the next year. So as a senior … what we teach them, we hope they carry through to the younger classmen next season.”