Metea Valley and Neuqua Valley water polo heading into the final game of the season opening tournament for both teams. Both teams 1-2 on the weekend as the Wildcats gave Naperville Central a scare in the opener before falling 10-9 while Metea Valley lost a close matchup with Naperville North 11-9 the previous night.
Lots of scoring in this one, we jump to the 2nd period, the Mustangs on a run as Colin Szczesny puts in a goal off the long pass from goalie James Cronin, Metea up 6-3.
The Wildcats right the ship with a sharp play as Pierce Salafatinos quickly hits Scott Teeling for the goal to cut the deficit to 6-4.
After a Neuqua Valley goal, Alan Rosenberg with the well places pass to Matt Townsend who takes the ball in stride and scores and just like that we’re all tied at 6.
Just before the end of the half, Brady Erdman waits for his shot and delivers with a long-range goal to put the Mustangs up at the break
Early in the 3rd period, Neuqua’s Jimmy Senese gets the lob in traffic and slams home the goal to tie the game at 9’s.
Onto the 4th, NV up one, Matt Townsend dumps a pass in to Pierce Salafatinos who scores to give the Wildcats a 12-10 advantage with four minutes to play.
13-11 Neuqua under two minutes left and Tyler Flanders somehow squeezes a goal into the net off the bounce, Metea down by only one.
Under a minute to play, 13-12 Neuqua when a penalty sets up the Wildcats with a fast break as Jimmy Senese throws it ahead to Matt Townsend who scores his 6th goal of the night, a big two goal advantage up 14-12.
Mustangs still won’t go away, Brady Erdman to Colin Szczesny who scores his 6th goal, it’s a one goal game again with 35 seconds to play.
After Neuqua runs the clock down to five seconds, last chance for MV, but the Wildcat defense prevents a shot attempt as time expires on a well played high intensity game. Neuqua Valley improves to 2 and 2 with the 14-13 victory over the Mustangs.
