Last year, the New Trier boys water polo team fell in the IHSA State quarterfinals to the incumbent state champions Lyons Township High School. Now, the team looks to grab their third state championship in the last four years. 

The team started the season cold, losing their first two games, but immediately heated up. The Trevs have been undefeated since then, beating some of the best teams in the state–such as Naperville North High School and York High School.

The team is led by senior captains Caden Adrianopoli, Hank Woodman, and Holden Heibler. Adrianopoli and Woodman are both entering their second season as team captains after leading the team last year as well. Now, the two look to bring home another state championship; the pair won in their freshman and sophomore years.

“We’ve been persistent,” Adrianopoli said. “We are trying to keep the team together and keep motivating each other. Water polo is a tough sport and we are trying to keep the team united.”

Woodman explains how, as a senior captain, he is trying to help his teammates with specific parts of their games.

“I am a lot more comfortable now when people come up to me and ask like: How do I get more minutes? What should I be doing differently in practice? How is my technique? I feel a lot more comfortable now answering those questions and critiquing what they’re doing.”

The key to the team’s future is their experience and high water polo IQ, which head coach David Rafferty-Flattery has high praise for. 

“They’re intelligent,” Rafferty-Flattery said.“These guys have been playing a lot of water polo, even across the world. They’ve been overseas a couple of times to play and so these guys are by far one of the smartest groups that we’ve had. [Their intelligence] lets you do a lot of different things in the water.”

Given the team’s exceptional knowledge, coach Rafferty-Flattery has decided to hand over more control to the athletes.

“We’re trying to let them be creative and let them play, use their intelligence, and in some cases it makes us coaches take a back seat and let them drive what we do in a game,” Rafferty-Flattery adds.

Despite the team’s strong play, they still have aspects of their game that they need to brush up on before playoff time.

“[We’ve been working on] fine tuning, shots, court vision, communication,” Rafferty-Flatter said. “Those little things that we hope separate us from an average team to a good team.”

For the captains, both have personal goals for the season which focus on refining different parts of their game.

“I’m trying to work on shot power and shot accuracy,” Woodman said. “Outside shooting isn’t really a strong suit of mine, and it needs to be a lot better.”

On the other hand, Adrianopoli wants to evolve more as an overall player.

“I’m trying to become more of an all around player,” Adrianopoli explained. “Focusing not just on my defense, but also on my offense.”

But in the end, the team has one goal. After a devastating loss last year, they want nothing but to earn another championship ring for the program, and they are optimistic that they can do so.

“Our goal is to bring home another ring,” Adrianopoli said. “And I feel very confident that we can.”