Benet rebounds at Wheaton North
Pinto scores twice in tournament-closing 3-0 win
By Matt Le Cren
WHEATON -- Benet had no shot at winning the Wheaton North Kickoff Classic.
The Redwings (3-2-0), who are ranked at no. 15 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, lost two of their first three games in the tournament, so they weren’t one of the trio of teams still in contention heading into Thursday’s final slate of games.
That didn’t stop them from reveling in the role of spoiler. Senior midfielders Mariana Pinto and Katie Lewellyan took turns setting each other up for brilliant first half goals, and Pinto added a second half penalty kick as Benet eliminated Wheaton North from a shot at the title with a 3-0 road victory at Rexilius Field.
Metea Valley knocked off fellow contender Glenbard West to win the crown in the four-match, six-team event.
The lack of tournament glory didn’t take away from Benet’s victory.
“It was a great feeling,” said Pinto, a 2021 Chicagoland Soccer all-stater. “We definitely learned from the past four games that we’ve played, and we just touched up a few things.
“I think tonight we really brought out the energy, and we showed what we were capable of in this game.”
Indeed. The offense that fell flat in in a 1-0 loss to Glenbard West on Tuesday came alive against the young Falcons (2-2-0), who were caught flat-footed at times in the first half.
Lewellyan scored on the first shot of the game just 4:45 after the opening whistle. Pinto found her with a crisp lead pass from the left side of the midfield to the right wing and the result was a breakaway goal.
The pair connected again 13 minutes later, only this time it was Lewellyan doing the set-up honors with a high ball from the right side of the midfield that got over the defense and found Pinto in the box on the left side.
Pinto settled, turned and sent a 15-yard shot past Wheaton North goalkeeper Olivia Iberle to give Benet a 2-0 lead.
Pinto and Lewellyan, a 2021 Chicagoland Soccer All-State Watch List member, combined to score 16 goals in 19 games last season while playing secondary roles behind star Jaimee Cibulka. Benet coach Gerard Oconer expects bigger numbers from both now that Cibulka is playing Division I soccer at Loyola.
“Katie and Mariana obviously are going to shine without Jaime a little bit,” Oconer said. “We’re still trying to figure out how this is all going to work without having Jaime and without Brooke Pullen, two of the foundations of our program over the last few years.
“This was kind of the first step back toward that.”
It’s already clear that Pinto and Lewellyan, who were Benet’s representatives on the all-tournament team, are comfortable with their increased responsibilities.
“We just look at each other and we know that she’s going to pass it to me, and I’m going to pass it to her,” Pinto said. “We already have that built-in connection, which makes us strong in the offense.”
Oconer recently tweaked the offense, switching from Benet’s customary 4-3-3 formation to a 4-4-2 alignment. He inserted sophomore Bailey Abbott into the lineup as the fourth midfielder with the hope that Lewellyan will have more opportunities to go forward in support of Pinto and junior forward Anna Casmere.
“We had a little bit of a change in formation to utilize our players’ strengths a little bit better,” Oconer said. “It’s gotten a little bit away from what we’ve done over the last few years really well.
“In this formation, it allows (Lewellyan) more freedom to go forward and make those deep runs from the midfield. That’s how she scored that first goal.”
Lewellyan missed Benet’s season-opening 4-0 win over Wheaton Academy with a slight knee injury but insists she is now fine. She didn’t show any discomfort with the new formation, nor the cold and rainy conditions.
“I play it for club, so it’s super comfortable for me,” Lewellyan said. “We have a lot of really good midfielders, so I think we’re able to get more of them in the game.
“Like Bailey really played well today and stepped it up as a sophomore and really held down the middle. I think we were able to force it wide through the midfield.”
Lewellyan said the new strategy wasn’t the most compelling reason for the victory. Losing two of their last three games fueled the Redwings, too.
“I think it wasn’t even the formation today,” Lewellyan said. “We just wanted to bounce back, and we really came out with the right attitude. That’s what made the changes.”
Still, it is clear Lewellyan’s performance will be crucial going forward.
“She’s definitely a fighter,” Pinto said. “Katie helps us with both offense and defense, and she’s a huge help for everyone on the field. She does such a great job of it. That’s why she gets the goals that she does.”
Like Wheaton North and Glenbard West, Benet finished with six points in the tournament. However, the Redwings earned the third spot in the six-team tournament via a tiebreaker. Plainfield North was the runnerup; Sandburg finished last.
Wheaton North coach Tim McEvilly said his team’s inexperience contributed to the result.
“We have a very young and inexperienced group,” McEvilly said. “We expect it, and we have seen some ups and downs. The Plainfield North game we just weren’t ready to play, and they’ve got some talented attacking players. We were disorganized.
“Tonight, it was just about intensity. The younger players, they’re not ready to play those first 40 minutes.
“You can’t wait on a ball to come at the varsity level when you play against high-quality competition. You have to work to the ball, you have to close space defensively. We didn’t do that well in the first 40 minutes.
“You can’t give Benet space. They had space and took advantage of it.”
To the Falcons’ credit, they tried to mount a comeback. After being outshot 9-0 in the first half, they mustered a 5-1 advantage in shots after intermission, allowing only Pinto’s penalty kick with 13:15 remaining.
Rowan Smith and Sophia Fadel were among the Falcons that got decent looks at the net, none of which were particularly dangerous. Benet goalkeeper Shannon Clark recorded her third shutout.
“I thought we did a fantastic job in the second half turning the tables,” McEvilly said. “We were unfortunate not to get some clean goal-scoring opportunities, but we had the ball in their half for a large portion of the play.
“The penalty kick, I don’t mind the play. The recovery run was appropriate and the closing of the space was just poorly executed and that stuff happens. You’ve got to learn from some of those things, and that’s what we were talking about.”
One bright spot was the play of Iberle, a sophomore who did double duty by playing forward in the JV game before making six saves in the varsity game.
Iberle has played the first four games between the pipes in place of starter Zoey Bohmer, who is still recovering from a wrist injury suffered during basketball season. The sophomore is expected back after spring break.
“Olivia played in goal for us at times last year. But she wants to play out in the field so she’s playing for our junior varsity team as a forward,” said McEvilly, who carried three freshmen goalkeepers on his roster last year but this season just lists sophomores Bohmer and Iberle. “Tonight, she played in both games since we didn’t have another goalie.”
McEvilly was impressed with Iberle’s attitude and overall play.
“She’s talented,” said McEvilly. “I think she gets more joy being in the field, but she also knows she’s behind Bohmer, who is one of the top goalies in the state of Illinois.
“But Olivia was up to the challenge. We’re happy.”
Junior forward Macy Hutchinson represented Wheaton North on the all-tournament team.
Starting lineups
Benet
GK Shannon Clark
D Reese MacDonald
D Sadie Sterbenz
D Annastacia Thiel
D Nora Hanson
M Brinkley Douglas
M Katie Lewellyan
M Bailey Abbott
M Rachel Burns
F Mariana Pinto
F Anna Casmere
Wheaton North
GK Olivia Iberle
D Abby Gosling
D Grace Ryan
D Anna Roe
D Ava Hodel
D Rowan Smith
M Claudia Kim
M Addison Falco
F Macy Hutchinson
F Talia Kaempf
F Olivia Moreno
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Katie Lewellyan, sr., MF, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet – Katie Lewellyan (Mariana Pinto) 35:15 remaining
Benet – Pinto (Lewellyan) 22:20 remaining
Second half
Benet – Pinto (PK) 13:15 remaining
Pinto scores twice in tournament-closing 3-0 win
By Matt Le Cren
WHEATON -- Benet had no shot at winning the Wheaton North Kickoff Classic.
The Redwings (3-2-0), who are ranked at no. 15 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, lost two of their first three games in the tournament, so they weren’t one of the trio of teams still in contention heading into Thursday’s final slate of games.
That didn’t stop them from reveling in the role of spoiler. Senior midfielders Mariana Pinto and Katie Lewellyan took turns setting each other up for brilliant first half goals, and Pinto added a second half penalty kick as Benet eliminated Wheaton North from a shot at the title with a 3-0 road victory at Rexilius Field.
Metea Valley knocked off fellow contender Glenbard West to win the crown in the four-match, six-team event.
The lack of tournament glory didn’t take away from Benet’s victory.
“It was a great feeling,” said Pinto, a 2021 Chicagoland Soccer all-stater. “We definitely learned from the past four games that we’ve played, and we just touched up a few things.
“I think tonight we really brought out the energy, and we showed what we were capable of in this game.”
Indeed. The offense that fell flat in in a 1-0 loss to Glenbard West on Tuesday came alive against the young Falcons (2-2-0), who were caught flat-footed at times in the first half.
Lewellyan scored on the first shot of the game just 4:45 after the opening whistle. Pinto found her with a crisp lead pass from the left side of the midfield to the right wing and the result was a breakaway goal.
The pair connected again 13 minutes later, only this time it was Lewellyan doing the set-up honors with a high ball from the right side of the midfield that got over the defense and found Pinto in the box on the left side.
Pinto settled, turned and sent a 15-yard shot past Wheaton North goalkeeper Olivia Iberle to give Benet a 2-0 lead.
Pinto and Lewellyan, a 2021 Chicagoland Soccer All-State Watch List member, combined to score 16 goals in 19 games last season while playing secondary roles behind star Jaimee Cibulka. Benet coach Gerard Oconer expects bigger numbers from both now that Cibulka is playing Division I soccer at Loyola.
“Katie and Mariana obviously are going to shine without Jaime a little bit,” Oconer said. “We’re still trying to figure out how this is all going to work without having Jaime and without Brooke Pullen, two of the foundations of our program over the last few years.
“This was kind of the first step back toward that.”
It’s already clear that Pinto and Lewellyan, who were Benet’s representatives on the all-tournament team, are comfortable with their increased responsibilities.
“We just look at each other and we know that she’s going to pass it to me, and I’m going to pass it to her,” Pinto said. “We already have that built-in connection, which makes us strong in the offense.”
Oconer recently tweaked the offense, switching from Benet’s customary 4-3-3 formation to a 4-4-2 alignment. He inserted sophomore Bailey Abbott into the lineup as the fourth midfielder with the hope that Lewellyan will have more opportunities to go forward in support of Pinto and junior forward Anna Casmere.
“We had a little bit of a change in formation to utilize our players’ strengths a little bit better,” Oconer said. “It’s gotten a little bit away from what we’ve done over the last few years really well.
“In this formation, it allows (Lewellyan) more freedom to go forward and make those deep runs from the midfield. That’s how she scored that first goal.”
Lewellyan missed Benet’s season-opening 4-0 win over Wheaton Academy with a slight knee injury but insists she is now fine. She didn’t show any discomfort with the new formation, nor the cold and rainy conditions.
“I play it for club, so it’s super comfortable for me,” Lewellyan said. “We have a lot of really good midfielders, so I think we’re able to get more of them in the game.
“Like Bailey really played well today and stepped it up as a sophomore and really held down the middle. I think we were able to force it wide through the midfield.”
Lewellyan said the new strategy wasn’t the most compelling reason for the victory. Losing two of their last three games fueled the Redwings, too.
“I think it wasn’t even the formation today,” Lewellyan said. “We just wanted to bounce back, and we really came out with the right attitude. That’s what made the changes.”
Still, it is clear Lewellyan’s performance will be crucial going forward.
“She’s definitely a fighter,” Pinto said. “Katie helps us with both offense and defense, and she’s a huge help for everyone on the field. She does such a great job of it. That’s why she gets the goals that she does.”
Like Wheaton North and Glenbard West, Benet finished with six points in the tournament. However, the Redwings earned the third spot in the six-team tournament via a tiebreaker. Plainfield North was the runnerup; Sandburg finished last.
Wheaton North coach Tim McEvilly said his team’s inexperience contributed to the result.
“We have a very young and inexperienced group,” McEvilly said. “We expect it, and we have seen some ups and downs. The Plainfield North game we just weren’t ready to play, and they’ve got some talented attacking players. We were disorganized.
“Tonight, it was just about intensity. The younger players, they’re not ready to play those first 40 minutes.
“You can’t wait on a ball to come at the varsity level when you play against high-quality competition. You have to work to the ball, you have to close space defensively. We didn’t do that well in the first 40 minutes.
“You can’t give Benet space. They had space and took advantage of it.”
To the Falcons’ credit, they tried to mount a comeback. After being outshot 9-0 in the first half, they mustered a 5-1 advantage in shots after intermission, allowing only Pinto’s penalty kick with 13:15 remaining.
Rowan Smith and Sophia Fadel were among the Falcons that got decent looks at the net, none of which were particularly dangerous. Benet goalkeeper Shannon Clark recorded her third shutout.
“I thought we did a fantastic job in the second half turning the tables,” McEvilly said. “We were unfortunate not to get some clean goal-scoring opportunities, but we had the ball in their half for a large portion of the play.
“The penalty kick, I don’t mind the play. The recovery run was appropriate and the closing of the space was just poorly executed and that stuff happens. You’ve got to learn from some of those things, and that’s what we were talking about.”
One bright spot was the play of Iberle, a sophomore who did double duty by playing forward in the JV game before making six saves in the varsity game.
Iberle has played the first four games between the pipes in place of starter Zoey Bohmer, who is still recovering from a wrist injury suffered during basketball season. The sophomore is expected back after spring break.
“Olivia played in goal for us at times last year. But she wants to play out in the field so she’s playing for our junior varsity team as a forward,” said McEvilly, who carried three freshmen goalkeepers on his roster last year but this season just lists sophomores Bohmer and Iberle. “Tonight, she played in both games since we didn’t have another goalie.”
McEvilly was impressed with Iberle’s attitude and overall play.
“She’s talented,” said McEvilly. “I think she gets more joy being in the field, but she also knows she’s behind Bohmer, who is one of the top goalies in the state of Illinois.
“But Olivia was up to the challenge. We’re happy.”
Junior forward Macy Hutchinson represented Wheaton North on the all-tournament team.
Starting lineups
Benet
GK Shannon Clark
D Reese MacDonald
D Sadie Sterbenz
D Annastacia Thiel
D Nora Hanson
M Brinkley Douglas
M Katie Lewellyan
M Bailey Abbott
M Rachel Burns
F Mariana Pinto
F Anna Casmere
Wheaton North
GK Olivia Iberle
D Abby Gosling
D Grace Ryan
D Anna Roe
D Ava Hodel
D Rowan Smith
M Claudia Kim
M Addison Falco
F Macy Hutchinson
F Talia Kaempf
F Olivia Moreno
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Katie Lewellyan, sr., MF, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet – Katie Lewellyan (Mariana Pinto) 35:15 remaining
Benet – Pinto (Lewellyan) 22:20 remaining
Second half
Benet – Pinto (PK) 13:15 remaining