Versatile Tommasone leaves
Benet as a champion
By Matt Le Cren
Mia Tommasone took a step back so Benet could take a great leap forward.
After leading the Redwings in scoring as a freshman and sophomore, Tommasone was asked to switch from center forward to attacking midfielder at the beginning of her junior season.
“It was a little bit of an adjustment for her because she hadn’t really played attacking mid in our system,” Benet coach Gerard Oconer said. “But our whole intention was to try to get our best players on the field at the same time.
“We needed Mia to evolve her game from being a pure goal scorer to being more of a facilitator for our team. She played some attacking mid on her club team before coming to Benet, so I knew she had some familiarity with the position.
“As the season progressed, her vision and passing continued to improve and allowed her to be our primary playmaker. After our toughest game of the season last season against St. Charles North (a 2-1 loss in the Naperville Invitational quarterfinals to the then-unbeaten North Stars), their coach specifically pointed out Mia as a player that he was really impressed with.”
Indeed, Tommasone overcame her initial reluctance over the move and thrived in her new role. She was one of the major reasons why the Redwings won the 2019 Class AA state championship, beating Wauconda 2-1 in double overtime in the state final June 1 for the first title in program history.
“It was a difficult adjustment at first,” Tommasone said. “I missed scoring, but honestly I felt like I made a bigger impact for the whole team just being able to control everything.
“I got more touches on the ball in the center of the field. I liked that a lot.”
Tommasone was an impact player throughout her career at Benet. She tallied a team-high 14 goals to go with three assists as a freshman and again led the team in scoring as a sophomore, bagging 12 goals with six assists.
But it was her ability to thrive in a new role that helped put the Redwings over the top.
Her replacement at striker, Abby Casmere, tallied a team-high 20 goals, but the offense was more spread out than in the past as five different players scored 10 or more goals and five different players reached double digits in assists.
Tommasone did both, finishing fourth on the team with 11 goals to go with a career-best 10 assists.
She saved her best for last, racking up six goals in seven playoff games, including two strikes in a 3-1 state semifinal win over Triad that gave the Redwings a berth in their first state title match.
“When you take a look at her from the beginning of the season until the middle of the season, and from the middle until the end, there was a significant difference as she kind of grew into that role and became more comfortable with it,” Oconer said. “She learned how to work with Abby, saw how she was able to use her strengths best so she could get herself in better goal-scoring opportunities and be able to set teammates up.”
That turned out to be a fun process for Tommasone, who is strong on the ball and elusive enough off it to create havoc.
“I think it was super important to have someone in the middle that was really controlling the ball and working with others, so I loved the position that I played last year,”
Tommasone said. “I just like being able to connect with the defense and the offense and help the offensive attack.”
While Tommasone isn’t the Redwings’ most gifted athlete, she brought a lot to the table, from physical strength to field smarts.
“I think I have a really good idea of what’s going on around me just from playing for so long,” Tommasone said. “I can play smarter, and I know my own skills and limits.
“I can put that to my advantage. I’m not the fastest player on the field, so obviously I want to distribute the ball and get in front of the goal where I can use my strength.”
Tommasone used her strengths well, and often, last season.
“She’s strong but probably her biggest strength is she is so crafty on the ball, especially in tight spaces near the goal,” Oconer said. “I think that’s where she really excels.
“If you look at the first goal she scored in the state semifinal game against Triad, it was a really good, quick, sharp cut to beat a defender, to get that half-yard of space to get the shot off.
“When she’s able to get her shot off, she has a rocket of a leg. All she has to do is get a clean shot off.”
Speaking of shots, Tommasone had been on the receiving end of tackles too often to count over the years. That led to back injuries that bothered her to such an extent that she has decided to forego playing in college.
It also played a role in Oconer’s thinking regarding the position switch.
“My other intention was to try to keep her as healthy as possible, because she’d been having some back issues,” Oconer confirmed. “The less that I put her in positions where she would potentially get hit by defenders, probably the better, and that would get her opportunities to be facing the goal instead of constantly having to play with her back to the goal.”
The move did just that, enabling Tommasone to play relatively pain-free until late in the season and contribute mightily to Benet’s ultimate goal.
But Oconer always knew Tommasone’s capabilities.
“We knew Mia was going to be a pretty special player for us when we saw her play in our indoor league her freshman year,” Oconer said. “She could not stop scoring.
“Every time she touched the ball, she was dangerous and most likely that ball was going in the goal. So it wasn’t much of a surprise that she ended up being our leading goal-scorer her first two years.”
And those goals didn’t come against cupcake opponents.
“Given the competition that we’ve had over the last four years, that’s incredibly impressive for her to be able to score against the kind of teams that we play against,” Oconer noted. “And to score goals in big moments for us I think is really impressive.”
Indeed, had her senior season not been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, Tommasone probably could have reached the 50-goal plateau for her career, a feat rarely reached these days by players on elite teams that play top-flight schedules.
“What I was really looking forward to for this year was to see her develop into that leadership role, because she was named one of our captains, and for her to be able to really work with (striker) Sarah (Bozych),” Oconer said. “They are really good friends off the field, and I think they’d have a really good chemistry on the field.
“Right away I think the connection would have been strong, so I was really looking forward to seeing how that would play out. I think Mia would have been even more dangerous.”
Alas, Tommasone and her teammates never got the chance to see how well they could do in Class 3A. The seniors do get to say that their final high school game resulted in a state championship, but they are left wanting more.
“It’s definitely super exciting that we achieved our goal last year, but I think each year it’s important to set new goals and I was really looking forward to doing that,” Tommasone said. “It kind of felt like I wasn’t done with what I needed to do.
“It’s difficult. I think everyone was looking forward to the season, just finishing off a great chapter of our life, especially the girls that aren’t playing next year.”
That group includes Tommasone, who plans to study nursing or exercise science at South Carolina. But she will always look back at her high school career with fondness.
“It was super fun,” Tommasone said. “Freshman year, I was super nervous to play with the upperclassmen, but the more that I was integrated into the team, I just felt like I had such a big impact and that was super humbling. It felt very good.
“It’s cool to have met a ton of players who have graduated and moved up the food chain from freshman year, and just playing different roles was awesome.
“I love Benet soccer. It sucks that I didn’t get to finish senior year, but I’m very thankful for what I get out of it.”
Benet as a champion
By Matt Le Cren
Mia Tommasone took a step back so Benet could take a great leap forward.
After leading the Redwings in scoring as a freshman and sophomore, Tommasone was asked to switch from center forward to attacking midfielder at the beginning of her junior season.
“It was a little bit of an adjustment for her because she hadn’t really played attacking mid in our system,” Benet coach Gerard Oconer said. “But our whole intention was to try to get our best players on the field at the same time.
“We needed Mia to evolve her game from being a pure goal scorer to being more of a facilitator for our team. She played some attacking mid on her club team before coming to Benet, so I knew she had some familiarity with the position.
“As the season progressed, her vision and passing continued to improve and allowed her to be our primary playmaker. After our toughest game of the season last season against St. Charles North (a 2-1 loss in the Naperville Invitational quarterfinals to the then-unbeaten North Stars), their coach specifically pointed out Mia as a player that he was really impressed with.”
Indeed, Tommasone overcame her initial reluctance over the move and thrived in her new role. She was one of the major reasons why the Redwings won the 2019 Class AA state championship, beating Wauconda 2-1 in double overtime in the state final June 1 for the first title in program history.
“It was a difficult adjustment at first,” Tommasone said. “I missed scoring, but honestly I felt like I made a bigger impact for the whole team just being able to control everything.
“I got more touches on the ball in the center of the field. I liked that a lot.”
Tommasone was an impact player throughout her career at Benet. She tallied a team-high 14 goals to go with three assists as a freshman and again led the team in scoring as a sophomore, bagging 12 goals with six assists.
But it was her ability to thrive in a new role that helped put the Redwings over the top.
Her replacement at striker, Abby Casmere, tallied a team-high 20 goals, but the offense was more spread out than in the past as five different players scored 10 or more goals and five different players reached double digits in assists.
Tommasone did both, finishing fourth on the team with 11 goals to go with a career-best 10 assists.
She saved her best for last, racking up six goals in seven playoff games, including two strikes in a 3-1 state semifinal win over Triad that gave the Redwings a berth in their first state title match.
“When you take a look at her from the beginning of the season until the middle of the season, and from the middle until the end, there was a significant difference as she kind of grew into that role and became more comfortable with it,” Oconer said. “She learned how to work with Abby, saw how she was able to use her strengths best so she could get herself in better goal-scoring opportunities and be able to set teammates up.”
That turned out to be a fun process for Tommasone, who is strong on the ball and elusive enough off it to create havoc.
“I think it was super important to have someone in the middle that was really controlling the ball and working with others, so I loved the position that I played last year,”
Tommasone said. “I just like being able to connect with the defense and the offense and help the offensive attack.”
While Tommasone isn’t the Redwings’ most gifted athlete, she brought a lot to the table, from physical strength to field smarts.
“I think I have a really good idea of what’s going on around me just from playing for so long,” Tommasone said. “I can play smarter, and I know my own skills and limits.
“I can put that to my advantage. I’m not the fastest player on the field, so obviously I want to distribute the ball and get in front of the goal where I can use my strength.”
Tommasone used her strengths well, and often, last season.
“She’s strong but probably her biggest strength is she is so crafty on the ball, especially in tight spaces near the goal,” Oconer said. “I think that’s where she really excels.
“If you look at the first goal she scored in the state semifinal game against Triad, it was a really good, quick, sharp cut to beat a defender, to get that half-yard of space to get the shot off.
“When she’s able to get her shot off, she has a rocket of a leg. All she has to do is get a clean shot off.”
Speaking of shots, Tommasone had been on the receiving end of tackles too often to count over the years. That led to back injuries that bothered her to such an extent that she has decided to forego playing in college.
It also played a role in Oconer’s thinking regarding the position switch.
“My other intention was to try to keep her as healthy as possible, because she’d been having some back issues,” Oconer confirmed. “The less that I put her in positions where she would potentially get hit by defenders, probably the better, and that would get her opportunities to be facing the goal instead of constantly having to play with her back to the goal.”
The move did just that, enabling Tommasone to play relatively pain-free until late in the season and contribute mightily to Benet’s ultimate goal.
But Oconer always knew Tommasone’s capabilities.
“We knew Mia was going to be a pretty special player for us when we saw her play in our indoor league her freshman year,” Oconer said. “She could not stop scoring.
“Every time she touched the ball, she was dangerous and most likely that ball was going in the goal. So it wasn’t much of a surprise that she ended up being our leading goal-scorer her first two years.”
And those goals didn’t come against cupcake opponents.
“Given the competition that we’ve had over the last four years, that’s incredibly impressive for her to be able to score against the kind of teams that we play against,” Oconer noted. “And to score goals in big moments for us I think is really impressive.”
Indeed, had her senior season not been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, Tommasone probably could have reached the 50-goal plateau for her career, a feat rarely reached these days by players on elite teams that play top-flight schedules.
“What I was really looking forward to for this year was to see her develop into that leadership role, because she was named one of our captains, and for her to be able to really work with (striker) Sarah (Bozych),” Oconer said. “They are really good friends off the field, and I think they’d have a really good chemistry on the field.
“Right away I think the connection would have been strong, so I was really looking forward to seeing how that would play out. I think Mia would have been even more dangerous.”
Alas, Tommasone and her teammates never got the chance to see how well they could do in Class 3A. The seniors do get to say that their final high school game resulted in a state championship, but they are left wanting more.
“It’s definitely super exciting that we achieved our goal last year, but I think each year it’s important to set new goals and I was really looking forward to doing that,” Tommasone said. “It kind of felt like I wasn’t done with what I needed to do.
“It’s difficult. I think everyone was looking forward to the season, just finishing off a great chapter of our life, especially the girls that aren’t playing next year.”
That group includes Tommasone, who plans to study nursing or exercise science at South Carolina. But she will always look back at her high school career with fondness.
“It was super fun,” Tommasone said. “Freshman year, I was super nervous to play with the upperclassmen, but the more that I was integrated into the team, I just felt like I had such a big impact and that was super humbling. It felt very good.
“It’s cool to have met a ton of players who have graduated and moved up the food chain from freshman year, and just playing different roles was awesome.
“I love Benet soccer. It sucks that I didn’t get to finish senior year, but I’m very thankful for what I get out of it.”