Benet breaks Carmel's sleeper hold
Redwings finally find groove in 3-1 road win
By Rusty Silber
MUNDELEIN -- Benet has a lot riding on the table in the East Suburban Catholic Conference and the upcoming postseason IHSA Class AA state tournament.
Thanks to a late two-goal surge Saturday morning, the Redwings stayed on point with a 3-1 win over longtime league rival Carmel in Mundelein.
Benet (10-1-1, 5-0-0), ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, remained unblemished in the conference after the victory. Thursday the Redwings earned a number one seed in Sub-Sectional A of the Burlington Central Sectional.
"I hope we play better than we played today or otherwise we will be done pretty early," Benet coach Sean Wesley said. "If we play as well as we know we can play, we anticipate a great end to the conference season.
“We still have to play St, Patrick, Marist and Saint Viator. Those are big games that should get us ready. Then, we have an out-of-conference game against Naperville Central. That should prepare us for the playoffs and then our goal is to make a long run."
On Saturday, the Redwings didn't play a complete match.
"We can't take 40 minutes off in an 80-minute game," Wesley said. "If we want to beat anybody, we have some work to do."
There was a reason for the slow start to the game besides the travel to the north suburbs and playing on a Saturday morning.
"We started very, very slow," Wesley said. "I give credit to (Carmel). They started fast, and they put us under pressure.
“We weren't connecting passes, and we didn't come ready to play a game. Maybe, we didn't think it was going to be that intense."
Benet needed to find a jumpstart in the match. Maybe it was the halftime talk or merely a realization of the circumstances.
"After a couple minutes in the second half, we started to wake up," Wesley said. "We started connecting passes. We started showing the talent that we have, and it was much better than the first half.
“I think we wore on them a bit. They were chasing the game and chasing the ball. Suddenly, we have more guys open and guys making good decisions. That led us to the goals."
Benet found the goals it needed to break the 1-1 the in the final 10 minutes.
Trent McVey scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 70th minute by taking a pass in the run of play from Nick Renfro and beating Carmel keeper Camden Krautsack for a 2-1 advantage. It was his ninth goal this season.
“It took quite a while for us to get going," McVey said. "It was a through-ball that was played to me on my leg. I saw space in behind and ran into it. I put it on target, and it went in.”
Chris Mankowski added an insurance goal in the 76th minute that after taking a pass from Nick Augustyn. He sent his shot from outside the box off the far post and into the back of the net for the final margin.
Renfro earned Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honor for his efforts in the midfield and hard work throughout the match.
"Assists really don't matter, what matters is that we win," Renfro said. "We work hard in the midfield. We just work hard with our one-touches.
“At the end of the game, we were playing like the way we should be playing. We just finally figured it out. We finally combined to get a goal.
“We do have a lot of potential and are excited about our future with good games coming up.”
Carmel (4-7-0, 2-4-0) kept after its visitors and played to a scoreless draw through the first 40 minutes.
Before the break, the best chance for the Redwings' came on a penalty kick opportunity by McVey in the 35th minute after a Carmel foul in the penalty area. But, the Corsairs' keeper Krautsack made a diving deflection and the ball flew over the crossbar.
"I did get a right hand on it and tipped over the bar somehow," Krautsack said. "It was a good bounce.
“I did see the player showing me a look to the left. So, the odds are that most people who are going to take it (then) go to the right. I decided to take a step left and go to the right to see if it would throw him off, and it did."
Benet found its opening goal in the 48th minute when Hans Haenicke scored off a rebound in front of the goal to put the Redwings ahead 1-0.
The Corsairs responded less than a minute later after a Benet foul in the penalty area allowed Ryan Crawley to convert a PK and even the match.
"It was a tough loss," Carmel coach Ray Krawzak said. "We had them, and we were doing really well.
“I was really enthused after the penalty kick save. That got us really excited, and we started to believe in ourselves.
“We're playing so much better than we started the season. We knew Benet was a strong team. They’re deep with a lot of talent in a lot of positions.
"We had a game plan and knew that it would get (Benet) frustrated. It took a real good ball on their second goal to skip through us. They made that happen.
“We still did a really good job, and I'm proud of the effort that we showed. Given Benet's talent, we really did a nice job in the game."
The Corsairs' peers have taken notice of their improved play. Carmel earned the number two seed in Sub-Sectional B of the Belvidere Sectional of the upcoming Class 2A tournament.
Starting lineups
Benet
GK-Hunter Randolph
D-Thomas Miskin
D-Anthony Klos
D-Sam Hepburn
D-Zach Serafin
MF--John Kolb
MF-Nick Renfro
MF-Nick Augustyn
F-Chris Mankowski
F-Hans Haenicke
F-Trent McVey
Carmel
GK-Camden Krautsack
D-Tim Milner
D-Avery Krautsack
D-Riley Pierson
D-Will Nickles
MF-Matt Grzesiak
MF-Ian McKernan
MF-Erik Miller
MF-Aidan Day
F-Matt Duffy
F-Aidan Harrison
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Nick Renfro, sr., MF, Benet
Scoring summary
Benet 3, Carmel 1
Benet 0 3 - 3
Carmel 0 1 - 1
First half
No scoring
Second half
B-Haenicke (unassisted) 48'
C-Crawley (PK) 49'
B-McVey (Renfro) 70'
B-Mankowski (Augustyn) 76'
Redwings finally find groove in 3-1 road win
By Rusty Silber
MUNDELEIN -- Benet has a lot riding on the table in the East Suburban Catholic Conference and the upcoming postseason IHSA Class AA state tournament.
Thanks to a late two-goal surge Saturday morning, the Redwings stayed on point with a 3-1 win over longtime league rival Carmel in Mundelein.
Benet (10-1-1, 5-0-0), ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, remained unblemished in the conference after the victory. Thursday the Redwings earned a number one seed in Sub-Sectional A of the Burlington Central Sectional.
"I hope we play better than we played today or otherwise we will be done pretty early," Benet coach Sean Wesley said. "If we play as well as we know we can play, we anticipate a great end to the conference season.
“We still have to play St, Patrick, Marist and Saint Viator. Those are big games that should get us ready. Then, we have an out-of-conference game against Naperville Central. That should prepare us for the playoffs and then our goal is to make a long run."
On Saturday, the Redwings didn't play a complete match.
"We can't take 40 minutes off in an 80-minute game," Wesley said. "If we want to beat anybody, we have some work to do."
There was a reason for the slow start to the game besides the travel to the north suburbs and playing on a Saturday morning.
"We started very, very slow," Wesley said. "I give credit to (Carmel). They started fast, and they put us under pressure.
“We weren't connecting passes, and we didn't come ready to play a game. Maybe, we didn't think it was going to be that intense."
Benet needed to find a jumpstart in the match. Maybe it was the halftime talk or merely a realization of the circumstances.
"After a couple minutes in the second half, we started to wake up," Wesley said. "We started connecting passes. We started showing the talent that we have, and it was much better than the first half.
“I think we wore on them a bit. They were chasing the game and chasing the ball. Suddenly, we have more guys open and guys making good decisions. That led us to the goals."
Benet found the goals it needed to break the 1-1 the in the final 10 minutes.
Trent McVey scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 70th minute by taking a pass in the run of play from Nick Renfro and beating Carmel keeper Camden Krautsack for a 2-1 advantage. It was his ninth goal this season.
“It took quite a while for us to get going," McVey said. "It was a through-ball that was played to me on my leg. I saw space in behind and ran into it. I put it on target, and it went in.”
Chris Mankowski added an insurance goal in the 76th minute that after taking a pass from Nick Augustyn. He sent his shot from outside the box off the far post and into the back of the net for the final margin.
Renfro earned Chicagoland Soccer's Man of the Match honor for his efforts in the midfield and hard work throughout the match.
"Assists really don't matter, what matters is that we win," Renfro said. "We work hard in the midfield. We just work hard with our one-touches.
“At the end of the game, we were playing like the way we should be playing. We just finally figured it out. We finally combined to get a goal.
“We do have a lot of potential and are excited about our future with good games coming up.”
Carmel (4-7-0, 2-4-0) kept after its visitors and played to a scoreless draw through the first 40 minutes.
Before the break, the best chance for the Redwings' came on a penalty kick opportunity by McVey in the 35th minute after a Carmel foul in the penalty area. But, the Corsairs' keeper Krautsack made a diving deflection and the ball flew over the crossbar.
"I did get a right hand on it and tipped over the bar somehow," Krautsack said. "It was a good bounce.
“I did see the player showing me a look to the left. So, the odds are that most people who are going to take it (then) go to the right. I decided to take a step left and go to the right to see if it would throw him off, and it did."
Benet found its opening goal in the 48th minute when Hans Haenicke scored off a rebound in front of the goal to put the Redwings ahead 1-0.
The Corsairs responded less than a minute later after a Benet foul in the penalty area allowed Ryan Crawley to convert a PK and even the match.
"It was a tough loss," Carmel coach Ray Krawzak said. "We had them, and we were doing really well.
“I was really enthused after the penalty kick save. That got us really excited, and we started to believe in ourselves.
“We're playing so much better than we started the season. We knew Benet was a strong team. They’re deep with a lot of talent in a lot of positions.
"We had a game plan and knew that it would get (Benet) frustrated. It took a real good ball on their second goal to skip through us. They made that happen.
“We still did a really good job, and I'm proud of the effort that we showed. Given Benet's talent, we really did a nice job in the game."
The Corsairs' peers have taken notice of their improved play. Carmel earned the number two seed in Sub-Sectional B of the Belvidere Sectional of the upcoming Class 2A tournament.
Starting lineups
Benet
GK-Hunter Randolph
D-Thomas Miskin
D-Anthony Klos
D-Sam Hepburn
D-Zach Serafin
MF--John Kolb
MF-Nick Renfro
MF-Nick Augustyn
F-Chris Mankowski
F-Hans Haenicke
F-Trent McVey
Carmel
GK-Camden Krautsack
D-Tim Milner
D-Avery Krautsack
D-Riley Pierson
D-Will Nickles
MF-Matt Grzesiak
MF-Ian McKernan
MF-Erik Miller
MF-Aidan Day
F-Matt Duffy
F-Aidan Harrison
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Nick Renfro, sr., MF, Benet
Scoring summary
Benet 3, Carmel 1
Benet 0 3 - 3
Carmel 0 1 - 1
First half
No scoring
Second half
B-Haenicke (unassisted) 48'
C-Crawley (PK) 49'
B-McVey (Renfro) 70'
B-Mankowski (Augustyn) 76'