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ILLINOIS WATER POLO |
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Monday - March 8, 2004 GAME RECAPS
BARRINGTON SURVIVES SCARE FROM CONANT By Aaron Brown
Barrington, IL -- The start of the water polo season is usually a time for teams to play solid defense while finding their identity on offense. While Barrington and Conant may have already found their main offensive weapons, they will still need to find their defense as they combined for 31 goals in yesterday's season-opener. The #21 Broncos outlasted #49 Conant 16-15 on the first day for water polo competition in the state of Illinois.
Barrington led from nearly start-to-finish, but Conant (0-1) had a chance to tie the game in the final minute. However, the Cougars had already used all of their timeouts by the end of the third quarter, and they had no chance to set up a potential game-tying score in the closing seconds of the game.
Barrington (1-0) looked like they would dominate from the start of the contest, as Drew Stetson started the scoring with a breakaway goal in the first minute of the game. He helped Barrington grab a 4-1 lead by scoring three of their first four goals, and the Broncos led 6-3 after one quarter. Stetson added two quick goals in the second period, but Conant's Kurt Zumpf countered with four of the next five tallies against Barrington's second unit to tie the game at 8-8 with 3:03 left in the first half.
Stetson reentered the game and quickly responded with his fifth goal as Barrington regained the lead 9-8. He followed that effort with a key steal and assisted Joe Fraczek on a breakaway goal with 1:40 left in the half to make it 10-8. Stetson closed out the second period by scoring on a right-handed sweep shot in front of the net with 0:20 left to give Barrington an 11-8 advantage at the break.
Both teams scored four goals in the third period, with Barrington taking a 15-12 lead into the fourth quarter after Stetson sent a halfcourt shot through the Conant defense at the buzzer. Stetson quickly made it 16-12 on a breakaway goal with 4:47 left in the game after the Broncos shut down Conant's 6-on-5 attack. Conant continued to fight, as Zumpf and Mark Roszyk both scored goals in 6-on-5 situations to narrow the gap to 16-14. Two minutes later, Paul Christiansen scored after a steal with 0:38 left to cut Barrington's advantage to 16-15, and Barrington gave Conant one last chance as they turned the ball over to goalie Mike Korizon with 0:21 remaining.
However, Conant (0-1) had already used all of their timeouts earlier in the game, including two in the first half, so they could not stop the clock to setup a possible game-tying goal. The ensuing pass after the steal by Korizon was intercepted and Barrington was able to run out the clock for the victory.
Stetson totaled 10 goals for Barrington, while Fraczek added 3 goals of his own. Mac McConnell, Matt Darch, and Cory Konrad also scored for the Broncos. Zumpf led Conant with 10 goals while Christiansen added 3 scores. Roszyk and Marc Fisher each scored once for the Cougars.
Barrington's plays host to Neuqua Valley (0-0) tomorrow night at 5:00pm, while Conant's next game is at home against Rolling Meadows (0-1) on Wednesday at 4:30pm.
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