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Sports

FIllies Water Polo and the Importance of Good Stretches

A loss at home against Conant has Barrington ending a span of important games in fourth place in the MSL W.

The Fillies' water polo coach, Mark Markwell, feels some stretches can be really important for his team's success.

Markwell isn't necessarily talking about the stretches needed to keep muscles in tiptop shape (all though he preaches that as well), but he is referring to needing good stretches of game play during matches and playing well during certain parts of the season. 

The Fillies just finished completing a span of five home matches in their first six games to open the season, and simultaneously find themselves in the midst of another tough stretch of Mid Suburban League West game play, and Markwell sees this stretch of games as a key indicator of the season. 

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“Fremd is a really good team and the team to look at in the MSL,” Markwell said.  “We can give them a good run, but right now we are fourth (in the division) and should be second.”

Barrington had opened the season with three straight home wins before losing to Schaumburg, prior to spring break.  The (3-1) record heading into break had the Fillies poised for some big-time season success, and hopefully meant a battle with the Vikings for conference rights was possible, especially since Barrington’s first match after the break would be at Fremd.  However, Barrington lost the match at Fremd on March 29 and then suffered a disappointing loss to Conant at home 9-7.

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“We may still have some rust,” Markwell said of the week long stretch off for spring break.  “It’s always a rough transition when you come back.”

“When most of the team takes the week off, they lose some conditioning, and timing,” he went on to say.  “Now we have painted ourselves into a corner.”

Some of the issues Markwell spoke of may have been the reason why Barrington was down early in the second quarter of the match with Conant 3-2, and things looked like they were about to get worse when the Cougars scored two quick goals to extend their lead to 5-2.

Barrington would get the two goals back with scores by sophomore Catherine Byron (4:33) and then a little over a minute later senior Laura Danhauer (3:03).

“That was very uncharacteristic of (Byron) to miss that badly,” Markwell said of the sophomore who only scored one goal on five shots.  Byron opened the season by scoring seven goals in the first two matches.

“She is a good goal scorer and she is going to get her opportunities,” Markwell said of the two goals scored by Danhauer.  “The goals just didn’t happen often enough for her today.”

The Fillies were unable to build on the newfound momentum when the Cougars scored consecutive goals to end the third period.  Conant’s Katie Varga scored six goals in the game as Barrington had little answer for the offense.

“She’s a good player,” Markwell said of Varga.  “She had a lot of open shots that we weren’t covering on; we didn’t recognize what she was doing and she countered well all match.”

“We were spectators and not participators at times,” a frustrated Markwell went on to say following the disappointing loss.

While down 7-4, the Fillies cut into the Cougar lead to start the fourth, but Conant  responded with back-to-back goals to all but end Barrington’s chances for the conference win.  Barrington did score consecutive goals (one at the buzzer by goalie Brooke Fanslow) starting with senior Chloe Padula chipping in her second goal.

“Padula played well and was in a tough spot, but she was one of the few that kept moving,” Markwell said.

“But really the player of the game today was Brooke and if it wasn’t for her (the score) would have been a lot worse,” said Markwell of Fanslow who made 11 saves.  “She got stuck quite a few times because we couldn’t get back on defense and she basically had to defend the entire team by herself at times.”

The loss moves Barrington to even for the season (3-3) and fourth in the highly competitive MSL W.   The Fillies can right the ship with their next opponent which will be divisional foe Hoffman Estates (away match starting at 4:30 p.m. on April 5th).  Barrington will follow that up at Rolling Meadows before starting the Lake County Invite.

“Our play has been up and down, and we need to play more consistent to have better games,” Markwell said of the upcoming stretch of matches.  “This is a very young team and there are a few kids playing varsity for the first time; and now being a good swimmer isn’t enough, now their polo play has to take over.”

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