Andy Butler feels his boys have nothing to lose.
The Lindbergh water polo team entered this season with high expectations.
Sky high to be exact.
“We came into the season with final-four expectations,” said Butler, the Lindbergh coach.
While Butler and the Flyers remain confident in their talent, the results have not been what they had initially hoped.
Lindbergh has trudged its way to an 8-16 record, going 3-3 in the Suburban West Conference. It has lost five straight to end the season and never won more than two games in a row.
However, seven of those losses came by two goals or less.
For whatever reason, the Flyers haven’t been able to close out the game the way Butler hoped.
That’s why this week before the district tournament, also known as the state championship tournament, begins he has the team working on one important aspect.
“Finishing. We’re going to work a lot on finishing,” Butler said. “We talk about finishing our shots and finishing our drives.”
The Flyers have themselves a nice mix of talent to help them get where they want to go. With senior captain Michael Nydegger between the pipes and senior Keith Fabick as their top scorer and defender, Lindbergh has given its share of teams the business this season. It led top-seeded SLUH at halftime Friday at the Lindbergh Invitational. And it was up on powerhouse Parkway West most of its match two weeks ago before the Longhorns rallied.
Lindbergh has shown it can get its nose in front. It just hasn’t been able to get over the hump at the end of the match.
Butler believes that with the pressure of expectations removed from the team, it will allow the Flyers to get into the water and be loose.
“We kind of have nothing to lose at this point,” Butler said. “They can just go play.”
Lindbergh, the 10 seed, opens the postseason at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at the St. Peters Rec-Plex against Ladue, the seven seed.
Ladue has knocked off Lindbergh twice in the last two weeks. The first match Fabick wasn’t available due to a red card he received the match before against Parkway West. The second match was this past Saturday, an 11-8 loss in the Lindbergh Invitational.
“We’re hoping the third time is the charm,” Butler said.
The winner of the Lindbergh-Ladue match will play at 5 p.m., May 11 in the quarterfinal round.
