Naperville C. tops Benet, q'finals next
Redhawks advance out of Naperville Invitational pool play, again
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE -- There is something about the Naperville Invitational that brings out the best in the host school.
No matter how Naperville Central is playing in any given year, the Redhawks always seem to bring their ‘A’ game to the state’s most prestigious tournament.
This year proved to be no exception.
A week that began with the Redhawks reeling from two bad losses in their previous three games ended with a three-game winning streak and yet another berth in the Naperville Invitational quarterfinals.
Junior Emma Philips and senior Meredith McGuire scored goals and goalkeeper Kinzly Dressler made two saves to record her eighth shutout as the Redhawks knocked off no. 20 Benet 2-0 on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
The win allowed Naperville Central (8-5-0) to advance out of its pool to Thursday’s quarterfinals, where it will host Barrington.
In the other quarterfinals, St. Charles East visits Naperville North, Neuqua Valley travels to Fremd and Geneva hosts New Trier.
“We are really excited, and we can’t wait to beat everyone else,” Philips said. “(Playing well in the invite) is really important because not only is winning fun, but obviously it is our tournament, so we want to win the whole thing. To have it under our belts would be really nice.”
To be sure, the path to the tournament title is anything but smooth. The Redhawks will have to beat three elite teams to do it, but they are fired up for the challenge.
“We’re very excited,” Naperville Central junior defender Sarah Avery said. “We love making it far in our tournament, because it is our tournament.
“We always want to win our tournament, so winning it would be pretty exciting. It will be tough, but I think we can do it.”
Beating Benet was tough enough. Despite the final score, the match was evenly played and hard-fought, with the respective backlines playing particularly well.
The game was decided by two weird bounces. The first came off the head of Philips and the second off the face of Dressler. Naperville Central capitalized on the first and survived the second.
Philips opened the scoring by connecting on the Redhawks’ first shot of the game, an 18-yard header from the top of the box that went off the fingers of Benet goalie Anna Keefe and off the underside of the crossbar at the 30:32 mark of the first half.
Meridith Hannan got the assist on the play, in which Philips stayed onside as she got under the cross from Hannan and deflected it with her head despite not facing the goal.
“I actually had my side to the goal and (the ball) kind of hit (my temple) which is really unnatural for me, because I usually do it (with my forehead),” Philips said. “But it was just perfect timing. That was an awesome cross in.”
Ironically, Philips didn’t think she had put the shot on frame.
“I thought it might have gone over because that tends to happen with my headers. and then I saw the goalie bumped it, and I was like, ‘Dang it!’” Philips said. “Then when it went over her head I was like, ‘Yeah!’”
It was just the second varsity goal for Philips, who is in her first year on the varsity.
“That felt really good because even last year I didn’t get too many (on the JV level),” Philips said. “(Playing varsity) is kind of intimidating at first but once you start playing better a goal helps you through everything.”
Keefe, who made two saves, felt the goal shouldn’t have happened.
“If I were asked I’d say that high balls are my main weakness,” Keefe said. “I was there, I just didn’t hit hard enough.
“I need to punch it over or pop it up, but I think I should have gotten it. But with the wind, it was a hard one to judge and then it sort of floated.”
The early goal put the Redwings (7-5-0) behind the eight ball. They’ve been struggling offensively and falling behind a top defensive side like the Redhawks is never a good thing.
“Any time against Naperville Central you go down 1-0 on a fluke goal, it’s an uphill battle,” Benet coach Gerard Oconer said. “For the most part, the run of play was relatively even, especially in the second half.
“They obviously were very aggressive defensively and made it tough for us to get any kind of rhythm going offensively.”
The Redwings, who have lost three straight, have struggled to gain any momentum in the attacking third. They have been shut out two games in a row, having lost 1-0 in overtime to Oswego on Friday night.
“We’re definitely scuffling a little bit right now,” Oconer said. “We had a really tough loss (5-2) on Wednesday against Carmel.
“Giving up five goals any time is not a good situation, so we made some switches in the lineup to correct that but then it’s sacrificed a little bit of our offense, too.
“Last night we totally had the run of play and didn’t convert on anything, and they got a 30-yard free kick right under the crossbar.”
Benet had a favorable bounce midway through the second half but failed to take advantage. A long ball over the top short-hopped Dressler near the penalty spot and hit her in the face.
Before she could gain control, Benet’s Maddie Becker took it away from her and moved to her right for a crack at the open net. But Avery hustled to deflect the shot around the right post.
“What I do as a defender is, if I know Kinzly is not going to save, I know I need to get back there,” Avery said. “So once I saw it hit her face, I knew I had to go there because (otherwise) we were going to be 1-1.”
It was an anxious moment for the Redhawks but one for which Avery was mentally prepared.
“You can’t get too excited, because you’ve got to focus on what’s going on once you clear it,” Avery said. “But it is very panicky, like, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve got to save it.’”
Naperville Central’s backline has saved plenty of chances this spring. The quartet of Avery, senior Caitlin Reice and sophomores Abby Hillman and Grace Anderson allowed only two shots on goal Saturday, while Dressler contributed a nice reflex save to steer a hard shot from Betsy Keefe over the crossbar with 32:45 to go in the second half.
“Me and Caitlin have been playing together since my freshman year and her sophomore year, so I think we know how to play with each other,” Avery said. “And I know Abby Hillman, who played right back today, and we all play at the same club. So we know how to play with each other.”
Benet’s defense was stingy as well, conceding only four shots on frame. But one of them was a quick breakaway that came just three minutes after Avery’s blocked shot.
Maddie Redeker’s pass sprang McGuire up the middle and the Marquette recruit beat the charging Anna Keefe to make it 2-0 with 19:14 to go.
“I thought their defense was actually really hard,” Philips said. “They’re really tactical and aggressive, too, so it was kind of hard to penetrate sometimes, but we still did it.”
Starting lineups
Benet
GK Anna Keefe
D Lauren Fischer
D Mary Kate Hansen
D Mary Kate Wilhelm
D Clare Bumpus
M Grace Girard
M Abby Casmere
M Katie Gesior
F Erin Flynn
F Betsy Keefe
F Mia Tommasone
Naperville Central
GK Kinzly Dressler
D Grace Anderson
D Sarah Avery
D Abby Hillman
D Caitlin Reice
M Francesca Canlas
M Maddie Redeker
M Maddie Mills
F Meredith McGuire
F Meridith Hanan
F Emma Philips
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Emma Philips, jr., F, Naperville Central
Redhawks advance out of Naperville Invitational pool play, again
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE -- There is something about the Naperville Invitational that brings out the best in the host school.
No matter how Naperville Central is playing in any given year, the Redhawks always seem to bring their ‘A’ game to the state’s most prestigious tournament.
This year proved to be no exception.
A week that began with the Redhawks reeling from two bad losses in their previous three games ended with a three-game winning streak and yet another berth in the Naperville Invitational quarterfinals.
Junior Emma Philips and senior Meredith McGuire scored goals and goalkeeper Kinzly Dressler made two saves to record her eighth shutout as the Redhawks knocked off no. 20 Benet 2-0 on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
The win allowed Naperville Central (8-5-0) to advance out of its pool to Thursday’s quarterfinals, where it will host Barrington.
In the other quarterfinals, St. Charles East visits Naperville North, Neuqua Valley travels to Fremd and Geneva hosts New Trier.
“We are really excited, and we can’t wait to beat everyone else,” Philips said. “(Playing well in the invite) is really important because not only is winning fun, but obviously it is our tournament, so we want to win the whole thing. To have it under our belts would be really nice.”
To be sure, the path to the tournament title is anything but smooth. The Redhawks will have to beat three elite teams to do it, but they are fired up for the challenge.
“We’re very excited,” Naperville Central junior defender Sarah Avery said. “We love making it far in our tournament, because it is our tournament.
“We always want to win our tournament, so winning it would be pretty exciting. It will be tough, but I think we can do it.”
Beating Benet was tough enough. Despite the final score, the match was evenly played and hard-fought, with the respective backlines playing particularly well.
The game was decided by two weird bounces. The first came off the head of Philips and the second off the face of Dressler. Naperville Central capitalized on the first and survived the second.
Philips opened the scoring by connecting on the Redhawks’ first shot of the game, an 18-yard header from the top of the box that went off the fingers of Benet goalie Anna Keefe and off the underside of the crossbar at the 30:32 mark of the first half.
Meridith Hannan got the assist on the play, in which Philips stayed onside as she got under the cross from Hannan and deflected it with her head despite not facing the goal.
“I actually had my side to the goal and (the ball) kind of hit (my temple) which is really unnatural for me, because I usually do it (with my forehead),” Philips said. “But it was just perfect timing. That was an awesome cross in.”
Ironically, Philips didn’t think she had put the shot on frame.
“I thought it might have gone over because that tends to happen with my headers. and then I saw the goalie bumped it, and I was like, ‘Dang it!’” Philips said. “Then when it went over her head I was like, ‘Yeah!’”
It was just the second varsity goal for Philips, who is in her first year on the varsity.
“That felt really good because even last year I didn’t get too many (on the JV level),” Philips said. “(Playing varsity) is kind of intimidating at first but once you start playing better a goal helps you through everything.”
Keefe, who made two saves, felt the goal shouldn’t have happened.
“If I were asked I’d say that high balls are my main weakness,” Keefe said. “I was there, I just didn’t hit hard enough.
“I need to punch it over or pop it up, but I think I should have gotten it. But with the wind, it was a hard one to judge and then it sort of floated.”
The early goal put the Redwings (7-5-0) behind the eight ball. They’ve been struggling offensively and falling behind a top defensive side like the Redhawks is never a good thing.
“Any time against Naperville Central you go down 1-0 on a fluke goal, it’s an uphill battle,” Benet coach Gerard Oconer said. “For the most part, the run of play was relatively even, especially in the second half.
“They obviously were very aggressive defensively and made it tough for us to get any kind of rhythm going offensively.”
The Redwings, who have lost three straight, have struggled to gain any momentum in the attacking third. They have been shut out two games in a row, having lost 1-0 in overtime to Oswego on Friday night.
“We’re definitely scuffling a little bit right now,” Oconer said. “We had a really tough loss (5-2) on Wednesday against Carmel.
“Giving up five goals any time is not a good situation, so we made some switches in the lineup to correct that but then it’s sacrificed a little bit of our offense, too.
“Last night we totally had the run of play and didn’t convert on anything, and they got a 30-yard free kick right under the crossbar.”
Benet had a favorable bounce midway through the second half but failed to take advantage. A long ball over the top short-hopped Dressler near the penalty spot and hit her in the face.
Before she could gain control, Benet’s Maddie Becker took it away from her and moved to her right for a crack at the open net. But Avery hustled to deflect the shot around the right post.
“What I do as a defender is, if I know Kinzly is not going to save, I know I need to get back there,” Avery said. “So once I saw it hit her face, I knew I had to go there because (otherwise) we were going to be 1-1.”
It was an anxious moment for the Redhawks but one for which Avery was mentally prepared.
“You can’t get too excited, because you’ve got to focus on what’s going on once you clear it,” Avery said. “But it is very panicky, like, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve got to save it.’”
Naperville Central’s backline has saved plenty of chances this spring. The quartet of Avery, senior Caitlin Reice and sophomores Abby Hillman and Grace Anderson allowed only two shots on goal Saturday, while Dressler contributed a nice reflex save to steer a hard shot from Betsy Keefe over the crossbar with 32:45 to go in the second half.
“Me and Caitlin have been playing together since my freshman year and her sophomore year, so I think we know how to play with each other,” Avery said. “And I know Abby Hillman, who played right back today, and we all play at the same club. So we know how to play with each other.”
Benet’s defense was stingy as well, conceding only four shots on frame. But one of them was a quick breakaway that came just three minutes after Avery’s blocked shot.
Maddie Redeker’s pass sprang McGuire up the middle and the Marquette recruit beat the charging Anna Keefe to make it 2-0 with 19:14 to go.
“I thought their defense was actually really hard,” Philips said. “They’re really tactical and aggressive, too, so it was kind of hard to penetrate sometimes, but we still did it.”
Starting lineups
Benet
GK Anna Keefe
D Lauren Fischer
D Mary Kate Hansen
D Mary Kate Wilhelm
D Clare Bumpus
M Grace Girard
M Abby Casmere
M Katie Gesior
F Erin Flynn
F Betsy Keefe
F Mia Tommasone
Naperville Central
GK Kinzly Dressler
D Grace Anderson
D Sarah Avery
D Abby Hillman
D Caitlin Reice
M Francesca Canlas
M Maddie Redeker
M Maddie Mills
F Meredith McGuire
F Meridith Hanan
F Emma Philips
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Emma Philips, jr., F, Naperville Central