Young Warriors battle in loss to Benet
By Dave Owen

Benet literally weathered the storm Monday in a 2-1 win over Wheaton Academy, while the young Warriors found plenty of bright spots on the stormy night.

Michelle Morefield continued her torrid scoring pace for the Redwings with two goals (giving her 10 this season), as Benet (8-1-1) endured a 30-minute lightning delay and a steady to heavy downpour through most of the game to win.

“Benet has a history especially in my three years that we don’t come out very strong after the lightning,” Morefield said. “But we just kept motivated, we stayed warm inside and knew what we had to do when we got out here. We also were afraid of another lightning delay that would call the game, so we wanted to be up at the half.”

Before weather delayed play with 24:12 left in the first half, slick conditions already had created havoc.

In the 13th minute, Wheaton Academy (4-4-1) jumped ahead 1-0 when Abby Olson’s 30-yard bouncing shot slipped off the hands of usually rock solid Benet goalkeeper Emma Hlavin and into the net.

“It was a crazy goal,” Wheaton Academy coach David Underwood said. “We told the girls shoot it, and in these conditions who in the world knows what happens. And that’s the thing – if it’s dry she (Hlavin) makes that save. And probably on their second goal our goalkeeper makes that save.”

The wet field also aided Benet’s tying goal with 25:40 to go in the half, when a failed clearing attempt set up Morefield’s first score of the night.

“One of their players had a miskick, so I just kind of stayed with it,” Morefield said. “Sophia (Elbchiri) had a real nice cross. I knew a defender could miskick it anytime in this kind of weather, so I just kept going.”

The delay soon followed with the score tied 1-1, but Morefield wasted no time changing that with a 30-yard shot that skidded off Wheaton Academy goalkeeper Julia McKee’s hands and into the goal.

“The second one was kind of the same deal,” Morefield said. “It was a long shot, it was my left foot, but I figured like with our goalie anything can happen. It bounces around, and even any good goalie can miss it.”

McKee and the Wheaton Academy defense were very good on Monday, containing a strong and veteran Benet offense.

“She (McKee) came up with a couple big saves – early on she came out and stoned one of their girls one-on-one,” Underwood said. “That was fantastic for her. And this is her varsity experience as a goalkeeper.”

McKee later made a nice save on a 25-yard skipping shot by Benet’s Amanda Kaiser, and had defensive help in repelling other Redwing threats.

“Molly Thorson is a good player in the middle of the field, and she’s only a sophomore so we’re expecting good things from her,” Underwood said. “I thought she was real solid, along with Meredith Matson in the back. And with Gaby LaMantia, we have a freshman at center back playing against eight seniors on this (Benet) team, so we were pleased with her.”

Sharp offensive execution by Benet nearly netted another goal 5:30 before halftime, as Jacquie Kaufman sent a nice cross from Kate Hennessy inches over the crossbar.

Wheaton Academy’s defense then stood tall against pressure in the second half.

Shot blocks by Matson (on Benet’s Ellie Bumpus) and Thorson (on Meaghan O’Hara) repelled Redwing threats inside 25 yards, and Matson and Alli Manske teamed up to deny a chance right of the goal by O’Hara with 6:25 to go.

Three dangerous Morefield direct kicks in the second half (one blocked by the Warriors’ wall) also failed to connect in her bid for a hat trick.

Benet’s defense also came up big late to save the win: Lindsy Kendrick made a great sliding steal with 4:55 left, then with 3:40 to go, a foul set up a free kick by Wheaton Academy’s Julia DellaTorre to the left of the box. But Benet’s Rachel Bernicky cleared the send into the box.

Hlavin then stopped a 35-yard shot by the Warriors’ Deb Smith at the 1:50 mark, and Kendrick and Kaiser combined to clear the ball from the box on a last ditch Wheaton Academy threat in the final 20 seconds.

The contributions of freshman Bumpus and seven key sophomores have been critical to Benet’s strong play.

“A lot of people have come up to me and other returning players and said, ‘oh, you lost 16 seniors, you guys can’t be doing too well this year,’” Morefield said. “But we’ve just all stepped it up. Most of the sophomores were on the sophomore team last year. They got to build up, and now they’re here and they’re playing like any upperclassman would.

“Our defensive center mid Ellie Bumpus, she’s a freshman and she looks no different than any of the upperclassmen out there. She was distributing non-stop, and that really helped us.”

“We did really well at possession tonight,” Morefield added. “We’ve been working on that a lot, and it’s been a big thing for us this season.”

Despite the loss, Wheaton Academy had its own achievements on Monday.

“This is a great growing and learning game for the young team we have this year,” Underwood said. “We knew coming in that this was going to be the best team that we’ve played to date.

“A lot of the girls said, ‘they (Benet) go so hard to the ball, they’re strong, they’re big and fast, and I was like, ‘what does this tell us. This is the level we need to be at.’

“Our challenge to the girls was just play as hard as you can, defend like crazy, get to every ball and see what happens,” Underwood added. “They (Benet) are a great team – I have no shame saying they’re a better team than us. But our girls went toe to toe with them, played hard and hung in there.”

With nine freshmen or sophomores on its roster, Wheaton Academy is using every challenge as a springboard to the future.

“We’ve been talking a lot this season about, ‘hey, we’re going to play teams more talented, stronger, faster and more experienced,’” Underwood said. “That’s fine, so let’s control the things we can control: our effort, mentality, our mental toughness.

“For our girls to even hang in with a good team like Benet in these conditions – rain, a lightning delay, all these things – I’m pleased with the growth that we’re seeing.”

Benet’s own young nucleus continues to flourish, and is geared up for impending challenges.

“We have two big games coming up in the (Naperville Invitational) – we play Sandburg and New Trier, who are two top teams,” Morefield said. “So it’s good to have a win and momentum coming up to that.”