Redwings defeat Wildcats in Best of the West

By Chris Walker

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Thursday's nightcap in the Best of the West Tournament at Naperville North provided an intriguing matchup between two perennial powerhouse programs that have gotten out of the gate and headed in different directions.

Benet took the field undefeated after three games while Neuqua Valley was looking to avoid a three-game losing streak.

The Redwings kept up their strong play while the Wildcats continued to slide as Benet prevailed by a 3-1 score.

"We were up and down so we're not super happy with how we played, but we're happy that we showed character and a lot of heart," Benet coach Sean Wesley said. "At some moments we're playing really good soccer and at others we're not.

"We had nine or 10 shots on goal in the first half, but only score once so we had to fight it out."

Benet (3-0-1) took a 1-0 lead in the first half, taking advantage of the great opportunity to utilize a set play.

Senior Robert Tomecek served a corner kick that pursued the head of Alex Senak like a magnet on a refrigerator. Senak buried the shot, leaving no doubt that it was a score, with 22:27 on the first half clock.

"We work on the corner kicks and set plays all the time in practice and all the work we've put in so far paid off there," Tomecek said. "I was just looking for a spot to put it, and had a good feel for it and it hit Alex right on the head and he put it away."

While any goal is a valuable one, Senak's proved especially burdensome for a Neuqua team that just can't seem to get on track yet.

The Wildcats (1-4) had been shut out in their previous two games and were unable to muster much offense and went into halftime trailing 1-0.

They were pretty fortunate that the deficit was a single goal as the Redwings came within inches of pulling ahead 2-0 with just over 10 minutes left before halftime.

Benet senior Brad Bozych blasted a line drive shot off the right post that caromed out of harm's way, leaving Bozych stunned that he narrowly missed while allowing the Wildcats to breathe a huge sigh of relief that they were still within striking distance.

"I thought we played well the first 20 minutes and then we made some subs and things changed for us," Neuqua coach Skip Begley said. "We are definitely a work in progress. We're still trying to find the right people to play in the right spots."

Things didn't change much for the Wildcats in the second half as Benet continued to control the tempo and kept the pressure on.

Sophomore Kyle Kenagy gave the Redwings a 2-0 lead when scored with 32:50 remaining on the clock.

It wasn't a pretty goal and it didn't require a shot that sent the ball screaming for the net, either. It was simply a hard-earned, hustle goal.

"I just came up the right side of the pitch and was able to get to it," Kenagy said. "Neuqua Valley is always such a good team and you just want to go out there and try to do whatever you can to win."

On this occasion, Kenagy used his speed and attentiveness to get to the ball. As Neuqua keeper Zack Goldstein charged out of the goal looking to secure a loose ball, Kenagy simply got there quicker and then flicked it past Goldstein.

"Sometimes we are our own worst enemy," Begley said. "The second goal was not a pretty goal for us. It was a good hustle play for Benet."

Neuqua sophomore Ryan Ross nearly cut into Benet's lead midway through the second half when he was allowed too much space and hammered a shot toward goal, but it was caught and cleared safely.

The Wildcats finally scored their first goal in three games when senior Eduardo Cruz lofted a shot over Benet goalie Konrad Bayer.

Still just getting acclimated to varsity soccer, and playing behind Kyle Dal Santo, arguably the best high school goalie in the state, Bayer wasn't able to drift back in enough time to bat away Cruz's effort.

"Eduardo was a great strike," Begley said. "There were a couple of real nice passes made that got him the ball. He had some space and he was in front of the goal and most goals are second in front of the goal and that is where he was at."

Finally, the Wildcats had reason to be excited. They only had a little more than 10 minutes left to play, but they were knocking on the door of knotting things plus they had gained some confidence and some momentum.

But, they weren't able to orchestrate much offense the rest of the way and then Sam Knapke broke the game open with 3:28 left on the clock.

Knapke wound up and fired, blasting a 42-yard shot from with his right foot that would make many high school kickers blush.

The junior could not have placed the shot any better and it allowed the Redwings to rest easy over the final minutes.

While the Wildcats' inability to score has plagued them this season, a lot of credit has to be given to Benet, namely guys like Michael Blouin, James Colletti, Quinn Andersen, Paddy Lawler, Mike Scanlon, among others, for disrupting them.

"I thought we played really well defensively," Tomecek said. "We felt pretty strong back there and then our offense had some great combinations in the final third."

Kenagy agreed.

"Our back is so strong and that goal we gave up was just the second one we've given," he said. "We're just a really good group of guys. We've got great chemistry. I mean, we didn't play until 7 and we've been together since 4:30."

Colletti's effort left Wesley wondering if the senior has ever lost a 50/50 ball. Yes, he's money.

"Does Colletti win every head ball or what?," Wesley said. "He did a real nice job again."

Blouin is one of the many integral players on the Benet defense and he's ecstatic to be back in action and to be healthy.

He had an undiagnosed and rare disease that reared its ugly head during a soccer trip to Italy and Spain two years ago. Blouin lost 30 pounds of muscle from Meckel's diverticulum, which involves a bulge in the small intestine that effects only about two percent of the population.

Blouin is now free of the affliction and simply thrilled to for his final season.

"I'm feeling great," he said. "We're really a band of brothers out here and we all love playing as a team and hanging out and stuff. Hopefully this is just the start of a great year."

Benet will face its biggest test of the season when it meets Naperville North on Saturday morning to see who advances to the finals while Neuqua will look to rebound against York, also on Saturday.

"We're just going to go back and keep working," Begley said. "We just have to make more progress because everyone else is making progress, so we're playing catch-up."