Renfro blasts Benet past Naperville Central
Senior's 30-yard beauty leads Redwings to 1-0 win
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Nick Renfro received a pass Anthony Klos on a quick restart and saw nothing but space in front of him.
So Renfro did what comes naturally to star players, he fired a shot on goal.
Renfro’s wide-open blast from 30 yards rocketed into the top left corner of the net and gave Benet, ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, the lead in the 14th minute against host Naperville Central on Tuesday night.
That held up as the game-winner in the Redwings’ 1-0 victory at Memorial Stadium.
“Our coaches were telling us to shoot, try to put it on frame,” Renfro said. “So I was just looking to put it in between the posts and luckily it snuck in the corner.”
Renfro’s blast was a no-doubter, one of several open shots the senior midfielder took from distance. The others missed the mark, but everyone agreed the goal was a thing of beauty.
“What a goal, especially for a senior leader,” Benet coach Sean Wesley said. “What a strike, and to get one against Naperville Central, one of our rivals, is fantastic. I’m really happy for him.”
Wesley also was happy with yet another dominant effort by his defense, which recorded its 11th shutout in 13 games and has surrendered only three goals all season.
The Redwings (11-1-1) held the Redhawks to just six shots, four of which were on goal.
“We moved Anthony Klos back there about four games into the season, and he’s doing a terrific job not letting the first ball in,” Renfro said. “Even if he does get beat, we have great players like Zach (Serafin), Tom (Miskin) and we have a lot of different right backs that can cover, that we trust as a team.
“That’s a big part of our team mentality – we trust each other.”
Miskin said that was the key against tricky players like Nico Couropmitree and Owen Jarrell and an efficient distributor like Rohan Bhargava.
“They had a lot of movement up-top so that was difficult,” Miskin said. “They overloaded one side a lot, so our communication was key and always passing on your defender and making sure you’re in touch with all your defenders.
“We’ve had multiple right backs step up and be very efficient for us. We’ve just been focusing on our chemistry, and it has been working out. We’re clicking on every level.”
Indeed, all systems were go for Benet for the first 60 minutes. Naperville Central (8-4-5) started to get more organized and more dangerous over the final 25 minutes and gained more possession, but Benet goalie Vyto Staniskis had to make only four routine saves.
In fact, the Redhawks’ best chance ended without a shot being taken. Bhargava whipped a diagonal ball into the box but Staniskis came out, and it just missed two Redhawks at the six near the back post with 8:05 left in the game.
“I thought we were very good for the first 60 minutes and obviously created enough chances to get out of here comfortably,” Wesley said. “Their defense and their goalie stepped it up huge. We wasted a couple chances and the next thing you know we’re in a total dogfight for the next 20 minutes.
“I’m obviously disappointed in the way we ended the game but the first 60 minutes to limit Naperville Central to shots from 20-30 yards out, I felt pretty good about that.”
Naperville Central coach Troy Adams felt pretty good about his team’s effort and resolve, especially the play of goalkeeper Caden Redpath, who recorded four saves after coming into the game at the 23:20 mark of the first half to replace starter Ethan Gentile, who was cleated during a collision.
Redpath’s highlights included a leaping grab on Renfro’s 33-yard liner that was heading under the crossbar with 17:45 to go in the first half and a point-blank stop on T.J. McVey with 27:05 left in the second half.
“Caden played very well today,” Adams said. “I was pleased that he dealt with the balls in the air much better than he has in the past.
“(Assistant) Coach (Mike) Ortiz has worked with both of the goalkeepers a lot on it, but Caden did a much better job of knowing when to come out, calling for it and being a little more assertive. He’s tall, so I told him you should get every ball inside of the 6, and he did today.”
But Adams was not satisfied with the Redhawks’ young backline, which showed almost too much deference to Renfro and the Redwings. That allowed Benet to dominate possession for long stretches.
“You hate using excuses because there really isn’t any, but there’s a bunch of sophomores in the back, the holding mid is usually a freshman, so there’s a lot of young kids,” Adams said. “We just don’t have enough kids that understand the value of communication, the value of making sure we get organized.
“We still have a tendency to watch the game sometimes, and I think that’s a maturity thing, so as they get older, then they get a little better at it. Right now, we’ve got to be better about matching up and finding bodies quicker.
“We take too long to get things sorted out, which is why they had a lot of time, especially that first half, because we couldn’t figure out who do I have?”
But Adams was pleased to see his team improve in that area after intermission, especially down the stretch when play was more balanced.
“I thought they did a better job in the second half of communicating,” Adams said. “We talked about not giving them so much space.
“Sometimes I think our backs and mids get so nervous about getting beat that they give them too much space. I thought in the second half we did a better job of taking up marks.”
If the Redhawks can feel good about staying within a goal of a team with designs of advancing far in the Class AA state tournament, then the Redwings can take great satisfaction from beating a 3A team on the road late in the season.
“This was a big matchup for us,” Renfro said. “We’ve been really looking forward to it the whole year.
“They’re a great team, obviously, a really physical and technical team. We just tried to play quick and play our type of soccer. We played hard, and luckily we got the win. It felt good.”
Benet is 7-1-0 against 3A competition, with the only loss a 2-1 setback at Naperville North. The Redwings had a 2-0 lead on defending 3A state runner-up and unbeaten Libertyville when that game was called because of lighting just before halftime.
“We’ve proven that we can compete with all of the 3A teams, so that gives us confidence,” Miskin said. “But we have to stay humble and know that those AA teams are just as good, and play every game like it’s our last.”
Naperville Central was the final 3A opponent on Benet’s schedule, so the Redwings relished the challenge.
“It’s big,” Renfro said. “This is just like a playoff game.
“Coach says it all the time – playoff games are going to be cold, physical. It’s going to go fast and teams are going to go hard. So this is what we can expect in the future.”
Starting lineups
Benet
GK Vyto Staniskis
D Anthony Klos
D Thomas Miskin
D Zach Serafin
D Hans Haenicke
M Nick Renfro
M Sam Hepburn
M Nick Augustyn
F Trent McVey
F Nicholas Picha
F Christopher Mankowski
Naperville Central
GK Ethan Gentile
D Mitch Becker
D Benjamin Tietjen
D Mateo Lopez
D Seth Lendzion
M Eric Soonenscien
M Owen Jarrell
M Johnny Kim
F Nico Couropmitree
F James Kim
F Dylan Kahn
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Nick Renfro, sr., M, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet – Nick Renfro (Anthony Klos) 26:16
Second half
No scoring
Senior's 30-yard beauty leads Redwings to 1-0 win
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Nick Renfro received a pass Anthony Klos on a quick restart and saw nothing but space in front of him.
So Renfro did what comes naturally to star players, he fired a shot on goal.
Renfro’s wide-open blast from 30 yards rocketed into the top left corner of the net and gave Benet, ranked fifth in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, the lead in the 14th minute against host Naperville Central on Tuesday night.
That held up as the game-winner in the Redwings’ 1-0 victory at Memorial Stadium.
“Our coaches were telling us to shoot, try to put it on frame,” Renfro said. “So I was just looking to put it in between the posts and luckily it snuck in the corner.”
Renfro’s blast was a no-doubter, one of several open shots the senior midfielder took from distance. The others missed the mark, but everyone agreed the goal was a thing of beauty.
“What a goal, especially for a senior leader,” Benet coach Sean Wesley said. “What a strike, and to get one against Naperville Central, one of our rivals, is fantastic. I’m really happy for him.”
Wesley also was happy with yet another dominant effort by his defense, which recorded its 11th shutout in 13 games and has surrendered only three goals all season.
The Redwings (11-1-1) held the Redhawks to just six shots, four of which were on goal.
“We moved Anthony Klos back there about four games into the season, and he’s doing a terrific job not letting the first ball in,” Renfro said. “Even if he does get beat, we have great players like Zach (Serafin), Tom (Miskin) and we have a lot of different right backs that can cover, that we trust as a team.
“That’s a big part of our team mentality – we trust each other.”
Miskin said that was the key against tricky players like Nico Couropmitree and Owen Jarrell and an efficient distributor like Rohan Bhargava.
“They had a lot of movement up-top so that was difficult,” Miskin said. “They overloaded one side a lot, so our communication was key and always passing on your defender and making sure you’re in touch with all your defenders.
“We’ve had multiple right backs step up and be very efficient for us. We’ve just been focusing on our chemistry, and it has been working out. We’re clicking on every level.”
Indeed, all systems were go for Benet for the first 60 minutes. Naperville Central (8-4-5) started to get more organized and more dangerous over the final 25 minutes and gained more possession, but Benet goalie Vyto Staniskis had to make only four routine saves.
In fact, the Redhawks’ best chance ended without a shot being taken. Bhargava whipped a diagonal ball into the box but Staniskis came out, and it just missed two Redhawks at the six near the back post with 8:05 left in the game.
“I thought we were very good for the first 60 minutes and obviously created enough chances to get out of here comfortably,” Wesley said. “Their defense and their goalie stepped it up huge. We wasted a couple chances and the next thing you know we’re in a total dogfight for the next 20 minutes.
“I’m obviously disappointed in the way we ended the game but the first 60 minutes to limit Naperville Central to shots from 20-30 yards out, I felt pretty good about that.”
Naperville Central coach Troy Adams felt pretty good about his team’s effort and resolve, especially the play of goalkeeper Caden Redpath, who recorded four saves after coming into the game at the 23:20 mark of the first half to replace starter Ethan Gentile, who was cleated during a collision.
Redpath’s highlights included a leaping grab on Renfro’s 33-yard liner that was heading under the crossbar with 17:45 to go in the first half and a point-blank stop on T.J. McVey with 27:05 left in the second half.
“Caden played very well today,” Adams said. “I was pleased that he dealt with the balls in the air much better than he has in the past.
“(Assistant) Coach (Mike) Ortiz has worked with both of the goalkeepers a lot on it, but Caden did a much better job of knowing when to come out, calling for it and being a little more assertive. He’s tall, so I told him you should get every ball inside of the 6, and he did today.”
But Adams was not satisfied with the Redhawks’ young backline, which showed almost too much deference to Renfro and the Redwings. That allowed Benet to dominate possession for long stretches.
“You hate using excuses because there really isn’t any, but there’s a bunch of sophomores in the back, the holding mid is usually a freshman, so there’s a lot of young kids,” Adams said. “We just don’t have enough kids that understand the value of communication, the value of making sure we get organized.
“We still have a tendency to watch the game sometimes, and I think that’s a maturity thing, so as they get older, then they get a little better at it. Right now, we’ve got to be better about matching up and finding bodies quicker.
“We take too long to get things sorted out, which is why they had a lot of time, especially that first half, because we couldn’t figure out who do I have?”
But Adams was pleased to see his team improve in that area after intermission, especially down the stretch when play was more balanced.
“I thought they did a better job in the second half of communicating,” Adams said. “We talked about not giving them so much space.
“Sometimes I think our backs and mids get so nervous about getting beat that they give them too much space. I thought in the second half we did a better job of taking up marks.”
If the Redhawks can feel good about staying within a goal of a team with designs of advancing far in the Class AA state tournament, then the Redwings can take great satisfaction from beating a 3A team on the road late in the season.
“This was a big matchup for us,” Renfro said. “We’ve been really looking forward to it the whole year.
“They’re a great team, obviously, a really physical and technical team. We just tried to play quick and play our type of soccer. We played hard, and luckily we got the win. It felt good.”
Benet is 7-1-0 against 3A competition, with the only loss a 2-1 setback at Naperville North. The Redwings had a 2-0 lead on defending 3A state runner-up and unbeaten Libertyville when that game was called because of lighting just before halftime.
“We’ve proven that we can compete with all of the 3A teams, so that gives us confidence,” Miskin said. “But we have to stay humble and know that those AA teams are just as good, and play every game like it’s our last.”
Naperville Central was the final 3A opponent on Benet’s schedule, so the Redwings relished the challenge.
“It’s big,” Renfro said. “This is just like a playoff game.
“Coach says it all the time – playoff games are going to be cold, physical. It’s going to go fast and teams are going to go hard. So this is what we can expect in the future.”
Starting lineups
Benet
GK Vyto Staniskis
D Anthony Klos
D Thomas Miskin
D Zach Serafin
D Hans Haenicke
M Nick Renfro
M Sam Hepburn
M Nick Augustyn
F Trent McVey
F Nicholas Picha
F Christopher Mankowski
Naperville Central
GK Ethan Gentile
D Mitch Becker
D Benjamin Tietjen
D Mateo Lopez
D Seth Lendzion
M Eric Soonenscien
M Owen Jarrell
M Johnny Kim
F Nico Couropmitree
F James Kim
F Dylan Kahn
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: Nick Renfro, sr., M, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet – Nick Renfro (Anthony Klos) 26:16
Second half
No scoring