Northview takes the north crown
[attach]6085[/attach]As the buzzer sounded at Northview Heights S.S., the entire boy’s water polo team jumped into the water to celebrate their North Regional crown — even throwing in coach Goran Salvokvic.
Northview had made short work of their June 4 opponents, topping the Newtonbrook 14–4.
The two squads traded goals in the first quarter before the Phoenixes started to pull away. While Newtonbrook scored again in the second, Northview’s five goals shut down any possibility for a Newtonbrook comeback.
Frustration mounting on the Newtonbrook bench in the second half as momentum was clearly on Northview’s side.
Although Newtonbrook scored two goals in the fourth, with the second goal a mere two seconds from the final buzzer, the outcome had been a foregone conclusion for some time.
Salvokvic said he was really proud of his team and credited the focus on cooperation and passing as the key to Northview’s win.
“They worked well together and they succeeded.”
His players made up a strong team that included both rookies and club players, including two players — Roland Sae, who scored seven goals and Ron Vainstein, who scored six goals in the championship game — on team Ontario, he says.
“The great thing about [Sae and Vainstein] is that they started to play at Northview, then went on to play club at Golden Jets water polo club,” Salvokvic said. “Two years later they made Team Ontario.”
The Newtonbrook team played with a lot of heart and they were pleased to be at the championships after being the defending champions Richview C.I. in the semis, said coach Arie Van Wijngaarden.
Although he accepted the results, he was still disappointed. Next year they will be ready, he said.
“We have a bunch of guys on the team that are still learning the game,” he said. “As they get older, they will be become better.”