Benet freshman Petrucelli sets
early tone versus Lemont
Forward's brace leads Redwings to 4-1 win, 6th sectional title
By Gary Larsen
WEST CHICAGO — They’re wet behind the ears. They often don’t know any better. They can be timid and lack confidence.
They are freshmen playing varsity soccer, and Benet’s Keira Petrucelli is one of them.
“I was really scared, and that was a problem for me at the beginning of the season,” Petrucelli said. “I didn’t play with confidence. But everyone on this team has been so supportive, and that has helped me come out of my shell.”
Petrucelli smashed her way out of that shell once and for all Friday, scoring two goals in Benet’s Class AA Wheaton Academy Sectional title game win over Lemont. The freshman delivered her goals before the game was 20 minutes old, putting top-seeded Benet in the driver’s seat for its 11th-straight win, an eventual 4-1 victory over second-seeded Lemont.
“We came out just wanting to win, and I think we proved that,” Petrucelli said. “We have really high expectations for our team, and we really wanted to be ready today. We wanted to score early and put the game away early.”
Petrucelli struck first just five minutes in to put Benet on its front foot.
“All we talked about was the beginning of the game,” Benet coach Gerard Oconer said. “The last two games we had a couple golden opportunities in the first minute of each game that we didn't put away.
“Then the game is more difficult than it has to be. So that was a huge emphasis for us today.”
Petrucelli also took a happy-but-never-content approach away from the win.
“Especially for a freshman in a sectional final game, to be able to do the things that she did today, but she still wasn't happy with her game,” Oconer said. “Keira just brings a high soccer IQ, a tremendous first touch and composure.”
Benet’s Mariana Pinto and Katie Lewellyan assisted on Petrucelli’s goals. Lewellyan and Bailey Abbott tallied in the second half to put a finishing stamp on the win. Suzie Knutte added a late goal for Lemont.
The win sends Benet (20-4-0) to Tuesday’s supersectional match at St. Francis against Dunlap. The no. 1 Notre Dame (Peoria) sub-sectional seed beat the no. 2 and host Irish 3-2 in their sectional title game.
Of course, in the immediate aftermath of Friday’s big win, Benet had little aforethought about the supersectional. Players hugged, hooted, hollered and posed for photos all over Wheaton Academy’s home field after the Redwings clinched the sixth sectional title plaque in program history, and its third in the last five seasons.
“It’s just very exciting,” said a beaming Abbott. “We played great. We came out ready to go, and we came out firing.”
Second-seeded Lemont (19-5-0) knew what it was up against in Benet, which also ended the team’s 10-game win streak. Then again, all the teams playing in the Wheaton Academy Sectional had to know what a struggle it would be to grab the ticket to the next round.
“I believe this sectional was the deepest one if you look at the teams in it,” Lemont coach Rick Prangen said. “St. Francis, Benet, Wheaton Academy, us and Joliet Catholic have all been to the state finals, and Benet won a state title just a few years ago (in 2019). So, to come to a final game in a sectional this deep, I'm pretty proud of this team.”
Benet’s ability to get balls deep in dangerous space and keep its attacking pressure up stood out. Lemont certainly had its stints of possession but establishing danger in the final third proved an elusive task for its attack against Abbott and Benet’s backline in front of keeper Shannon Clark.
Abbott’s transformation this season has helped key Benet’s success. Oconer moved her from midfielder to central defender this year, and the sophomore didn’t skip a beat.
“Our season changed a lot when we put Bailey in the back,” Oconer said. “She just solidified everything. She's been able to win everything for us. She brings solid 1-v-1 defending, so now we really don't have to worry about anything in the back. And she's just an absolute ball-winner; every 50/50 ball is hers.”
The 2-0 deficit Lemont faced after 40 minutes punctuated a message that Prangen and assistant coach Mark Tomczak have been preaching.
“We talked before the game about how little things would make the difference,” Prangen said. “To give the ball away early and easy against Benet, they're going to punish you for that. They're a very good team, and they've got some very good athletes.
“We knew they were a better side. We really did. But after they scored two early goals, if you told me if it would be 2-0 at half, I'd be okay with that. That third goal was a hard one to deal with, but I'm also proud that we didn't quit, and we got a goal in the last minute of the game.”
Benet took a 3-0 lead when Pinto sent a through-ball ahead in the box to Lewellyan, who touched it inside the post at 55 minutes. It was 4-0 when Abbott got onto the end of a Rachel Burns corner kick in the game’s final minute, before Knutte scored with 40 seconds remaining.
Benet was 5-4-0 against Class 3A teams this season. Three of the losses came by a single goal, and the fourth was suffered in a shootout.
Two of the losses came during the Naperville Invitational, the state’s toughest regular-season tournament. The other two came against large-school sectional winners Metea Valley and Glenbard West in the Wheaton North Kickoff Classic in March.
Oconer saw his players learn from losses to ranked teams Oswego East and St. Charles North on consecutive days in Naperville in late April.
“When you play the best of the best you find out what works and what doesn't work,” he said. “We had not played a team that moved the ball as quickly or as sharp as Oswego East did. So just seeing that really helped open up our eyes into our own attack, and defensively what we needed to do in terms of keeping our shape and staying disciplined defensively.”
Abbott sees her side playing its best soccer at exactly the right time.
“We passed the ball well; we connected well: and we found Mariana (Pinto), who was being guarded well by their backline,” Abbott said. “But we also found Katie (Lewellyan) and everybody in the middle. We've gotten a lot better at that. That was off at the beginning of the season but over the course of the year you could definitely see a big difference. We just kept progressively getting better and better.”
Benet, ranked 13th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, meets Dunlap, listed eighth in the Illinois 10 poll, at 6 p.m. Tuesday at St. Francis in Wheaton for the right to advance to the Class AA Final Four.
Despite her side’s loss, Lemont senior defender Lenna Nabulsi applauded her teammates’ refusal to quit in the face of a 3-0 deficit against the sectional’s top seed.
“I'm very proud,” Nabulsi said. “We kept our heads up pretty much the whole game. That's why we scored that one goal, because I felt like no one gave up. Ella Simpson just kept reminding everyone that the game wasn't over and to keep our heads up, because we still had a game to play. We wanted to leave the game on a good note.”
Lemont will bid farewell to five graduates; Nabulsi, Michelle Nosal, Brianna Sanchez, Nina Pavlica and Mia Stojakovic. But the cupboard is far from bare for next season.
“There are things to build on,” Prangen said. “Our two, leading goal-scorers are coming back next year in Suzie Knutte and Ella Simpson.
“Page Bingen, our central midfielder, is coming back and three of our four defenders are coming back. So that's all something we’ll build around.”
Daria Koslosky, Nicole Bobcik and Casey Kittridge will return to defend for Lemont next year.
Benet notes
Petrucelli’s development from skilled but doe-eyed freshman to varsity-mature striker didn’t occur in a vacuum. First, Petrucelli got healthy after being sidelined with a knee injury for her entire eighth-grade season.
And second, she had a good role model in senior striker Pinto.
“The biggest supporter of Keira has been Mariana,” Oconer said. “She has taken her under her wing and having someone like that to look up to and really be able to pick her brain has really helped Keira’s game.”
Moving Abbott from midfield to defense wasn’t the only key lineup change for Benet.
Junior Reese MacDonald also moved from the backline to Abbott’s former spot at midfield.
“Reese MacDonald has just continued to improve for us,” Oconer said. “We basically flip-flopped Reese and Bailey, and Reese's ability to win every ball at midfield and play with intelligence at that attacking mid spot has been huge for us.
“The thing we weren't quite sure of when we put (Abbott) in back was whether she would have the discipline to stay home. But she's done everything we asked her to do this year. Every single position we have asked her to play, she has shined.”
Lemont notes
Nabulsi did yeoman’s work against Benet, shadowing Benet’s Pinto all day long. Pinto still managed two assists but Nabulsi was pivotal in helping keep the talented forward from finishing on a goal.
“Lenna Nabulsi has been an absolutely phenomenal defender for us,” Prangen said. “She was a girl who played two years at the lower level and played a minimal role last year, but this year she played in every game and was one of our most consistent players. I'm so proud of her, and we're going to miss her.
“That's what high school athletics is all about, working hard and then achieving when you get your opportunity.”
Nabulsi simply refused to hang her head while waiting for varsity playing time.
“This year really helped me regain my confidence as a player. I was very thankful for coach Prangen and coach Tomczak, because they never stopped believing in me and helped me gain my confidence back as a player,” she said.
“I stuck with it, because I had hope for this new season. It was a new team with very few seniors with varsity experience. I knew there would be some new players, and I just didn't want to give this up in my senior year.”
Senior keeper Nosal is another Lemont success story in her second season in net at the varsity level.
“She has made tremendous strides this year. She has come so far as a goalie, and I'm so proud of her,” Prangen said.
For her part, Nosal exits the program grateful for what Prangen and Tomczak have given her.
“I absolutely love how passionate they are about soccer, and they really were able to transfer that over to us,” Nosal said. “Prangen always says to play hard, play to win, and play to have fun and that means so much. Tomczak was so encouraging to me and that has meant a lot to me.
“It's not just soccer. I'll definitely apply what they've taught me to the rest of my life. I became more confident as a person, and I just appreciate them so much.”
Both Nabulsi and Nosal see great things ahead for freshman midfielder Ella Simpson, who brought more than just exceptional skill to the field this season.
“She has great leadership qualities,” Nabulsi said. “She was the one yelling for us not to give up in the second half. Paige (Bingen) and Ella are very skilled, they communicate well, and they really controlled the midfield for most of our games.”
Prangen was also impressed with Simpson’s freshman campaign.
“She was one of the better freshmen I've seen all year,” he said. “She has done a phenomenal job, and I think over the next three years she can be a special player.”
Starting lineups
Lemont
GK Michelle Nosal
D Nicole Bobcik
D Lenna Nabulsi
D Daria Koslosky
D Casey Kittridge
MF Paige Bingen
MF Ella Simpson
MF Nina Pavlica
MF Natalia Zalinski
F Suzie Knutte
F Brianna Sanchez
Benet
GK Shannon Clark
D Nora Hanson
D Annastacia Thiel
D Sadie Sterbenz
M Bailey Abbott
M Katie Lewellyan
M Brinkley Douglas
M Reese MacDonald
F Gabriela DiMatteo
F Mariana Pinto
F Keira Petrucelli
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Keira Petrucelli, fr., F, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet — Petrucelli (Pinto) 5’
Benet — Petrucelli (Llewellyan) 12’
Second half
Benet — Llewellyan (Pinto) 55’
Benet — Abbott (Burns) 80’
Lemont — Knutte (UA) 80’
early tone versus Lemont
Forward's brace leads Redwings to 4-1 win, 6th sectional title
By Gary Larsen
WEST CHICAGO — They’re wet behind the ears. They often don’t know any better. They can be timid and lack confidence.
They are freshmen playing varsity soccer, and Benet’s Keira Petrucelli is one of them.
“I was really scared, and that was a problem for me at the beginning of the season,” Petrucelli said. “I didn’t play with confidence. But everyone on this team has been so supportive, and that has helped me come out of my shell.”
Petrucelli smashed her way out of that shell once and for all Friday, scoring two goals in Benet’s Class AA Wheaton Academy Sectional title game win over Lemont. The freshman delivered her goals before the game was 20 minutes old, putting top-seeded Benet in the driver’s seat for its 11th-straight win, an eventual 4-1 victory over second-seeded Lemont.
“We came out just wanting to win, and I think we proved that,” Petrucelli said. “We have really high expectations for our team, and we really wanted to be ready today. We wanted to score early and put the game away early.”
Petrucelli struck first just five minutes in to put Benet on its front foot.
“All we talked about was the beginning of the game,” Benet coach Gerard Oconer said. “The last two games we had a couple golden opportunities in the first minute of each game that we didn't put away.
“Then the game is more difficult than it has to be. So that was a huge emphasis for us today.”
Petrucelli also took a happy-but-never-content approach away from the win.
“Especially for a freshman in a sectional final game, to be able to do the things that she did today, but she still wasn't happy with her game,” Oconer said. “Keira just brings a high soccer IQ, a tremendous first touch and composure.”
Benet’s Mariana Pinto and Katie Lewellyan assisted on Petrucelli’s goals. Lewellyan and Bailey Abbott tallied in the second half to put a finishing stamp on the win. Suzie Knutte added a late goal for Lemont.
The win sends Benet (20-4-0) to Tuesday’s supersectional match at St. Francis against Dunlap. The no. 1 Notre Dame (Peoria) sub-sectional seed beat the no. 2 and host Irish 3-2 in their sectional title game.
Of course, in the immediate aftermath of Friday’s big win, Benet had little aforethought about the supersectional. Players hugged, hooted, hollered and posed for photos all over Wheaton Academy’s home field after the Redwings clinched the sixth sectional title plaque in program history, and its third in the last five seasons.
“It’s just very exciting,” said a beaming Abbott. “We played great. We came out ready to go, and we came out firing.”
Second-seeded Lemont (19-5-0) knew what it was up against in Benet, which also ended the team’s 10-game win streak. Then again, all the teams playing in the Wheaton Academy Sectional had to know what a struggle it would be to grab the ticket to the next round.
“I believe this sectional was the deepest one if you look at the teams in it,” Lemont coach Rick Prangen said. “St. Francis, Benet, Wheaton Academy, us and Joliet Catholic have all been to the state finals, and Benet won a state title just a few years ago (in 2019). So, to come to a final game in a sectional this deep, I'm pretty proud of this team.”
Benet’s ability to get balls deep in dangerous space and keep its attacking pressure up stood out. Lemont certainly had its stints of possession but establishing danger in the final third proved an elusive task for its attack against Abbott and Benet’s backline in front of keeper Shannon Clark.
Abbott’s transformation this season has helped key Benet’s success. Oconer moved her from midfielder to central defender this year, and the sophomore didn’t skip a beat.
“Our season changed a lot when we put Bailey in the back,” Oconer said. “She just solidified everything. She's been able to win everything for us. She brings solid 1-v-1 defending, so now we really don't have to worry about anything in the back. And she's just an absolute ball-winner; every 50/50 ball is hers.”
The 2-0 deficit Lemont faced after 40 minutes punctuated a message that Prangen and assistant coach Mark Tomczak have been preaching.
“We talked before the game about how little things would make the difference,” Prangen said. “To give the ball away early and easy against Benet, they're going to punish you for that. They're a very good team, and they've got some very good athletes.
“We knew they were a better side. We really did. But after they scored two early goals, if you told me if it would be 2-0 at half, I'd be okay with that. That third goal was a hard one to deal with, but I'm also proud that we didn't quit, and we got a goal in the last minute of the game.”
Benet took a 3-0 lead when Pinto sent a through-ball ahead in the box to Lewellyan, who touched it inside the post at 55 minutes. It was 4-0 when Abbott got onto the end of a Rachel Burns corner kick in the game’s final minute, before Knutte scored with 40 seconds remaining.
Benet was 5-4-0 against Class 3A teams this season. Three of the losses came by a single goal, and the fourth was suffered in a shootout.
Two of the losses came during the Naperville Invitational, the state’s toughest regular-season tournament. The other two came against large-school sectional winners Metea Valley and Glenbard West in the Wheaton North Kickoff Classic in March.
Oconer saw his players learn from losses to ranked teams Oswego East and St. Charles North on consecutive days in Naperville in late April.
“When you play the best of the best you find out what works and what doesn't work,” he said. “We had not played a team that moved the ball as quickly or as sharp as Oswego East did. So just seeing that really helped open up our eyes into our own attack, and defensively what we needed to do in terms of keeping our shape and staying disciplined defensively.”
Abbott sees her side playing its best soccer at exactly the right time.
“We passed the ball well; we connected well: and we found Mariana (Pinto), who was being guarded well by their backline,” Abbott said. “But we also found Katie (Lewellyan) and everybody in the middle. We've gotten a lot better at that. That was off at the beginning of the season but over the course of the year you could definitely see a big difference. We just kept progressively getting better and better.”
Benet, ranked 13th in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, meets Dunlap, listed eighth in the Illinois 10 poll, at 6 p.m. Tuesday at St. Francis in Wheaton for the right to advance to the Class AA Final Four.
Despite her side’s loss, Lemont senior defender Lenna Nabulsi applauded her teammates’ refusal to quit in the face of a 3-0 deficit against the sectional’s top seed.
“I'm very proud,” Nabulsi said. “We kept our heads up pretty much the whole game. That's why we scored that one goal, because I felt like no one gave up. Ella Simpson just kept reminding everyone that the game wasn't over and to keep our heads up, because we still had a game to play. We wanted to leave the game on a good note.”
Lemont will bid farewell to five graduates; Nabulsi, Michelle Nosal, Brianna Sanchez, Nina Pavlica and Mia Stojakovic. But the cupboard is far from bare for next season.
“There are things to build on,” Prangen said. “Our two, leading goal-scorers are coming back next year in Suzie Knutte and Ella Simpson.
“Page Bingen, our central midfielder, is coming back and three of our four defenders are coming back. So that's all something we’ll build around.”
Daria Koslosky, Nicole Bobcik and Casey Kittridge will return to defend for Lemont next year.
Benet notes
Petrucelli’s development from skilled but doe-eyed freshman to varsity-mature striker didn’t occur in a vacuum. First, Petrucelli got healthy after being sidelined with a knee injury for her entire eighth-grade season.
And second, she had a good role model in senior striker Pinto.
“The biggest supporter of Keira has been Mariana,” Oconer said. “She has taken her under her wing and having someone like that to look up to and really be able to pick her brain has really helped Keira’s game.”
Moving Abbott from midfield to defense wasn’t the only key lineup change for Benet.
Junior Reese MacDonald also moved from the backline to Abbott’s former spot at midfield.
“Reese MacDonald has just continued to improve for us,” Oconer said. “We basically flip-flopped Reese and Bailey, and Reese's ability to win every ball at midfield and play with intelligence at that attacking mid spot has been huge for us.
“The thing we weren't quite sure of when we put (Abbott) in back was whether she would have the discipline to stay home. But she's done everything we asked her to do this year. Every single position we have asked her to play, she has shined.”
Lemont notes
Nabulsi did yeoman’s work against Benet, shadowing Benet’s Pinto all day long. Pinto still managed two assists but Nabulsi was pivotal in helping keep the talented forward from finishing on a goal.
“Lenna Nabulsi has been an absolutely phenomenal defender for us,” Prangen said. “She was a girl who played two years at the lower level and played a minimal role last year, but this year she played in every game and was one of our most consistent players. I'm so proud of her, and we're going to miss her.
“That's what high school athletics is all about, working hard and then achieving when you get your opportunity.”
Nabulsi simply refused to hang her head while waiting for varsity playing time.
“This year really helped me regain my confidence as a player. I was very thankful for coach Prangen and coach Tomczak, because they never stopped believing in me and helped me gain my confidence back as a player,” she said.
“I stuck with it, because I had hope for this new season. It was a new team with very few seniors with varsity experience. I knew there would be some new players, and I just didn't want to give this up in my senior year.”
Senior keeper Nosal is another Lemont success story in her second season in net at the varsity level.
“She has made tremendous strides this year. She has come so far as a goalie, and I'm so proud of her,” Prangen said.
For her part, Nosal exits the program grateful for what Prangen and Tomczak have given her.
“I absolutely love how passionate they are about soccer, and they really were able to transfer that over to us,” Nosal said. “Prangen always says to play hard, play to win, and play to have fun and that means so much. Tomczak was so encouraging to me and that has meant a lot to me.
“It's not just soccer. I'll definitely apply what they've taught me to the rest of my life. I became more confident as a person, and I just appreciate them so much.”
Both Nabulsi and Nosal see great things ahead for freshman midfielder Ella Simpson, who brought more than just exceptional skill to the field this season.
“She has great leadership qualities,” Nabulsi said. “She was the one yelling for us not to give up in the second half. Paige (Bingen) and Ella are very skilled, they communicate well, and they really controlled the midfield for most of our games.”
Prangen was also impressed with Simpson’s freshman campaign.
“She was one of the better freshmen I've seen all year,” he said. “She has done a phenomenal job, and I think over the next three years she can be a special player.”
Starting lineups
Lemont
GK Michelle Nosal
D Nicole Bobcik
D Lenna Nabulsi
D Daria Koslosky
D Casey Kittridge
MF Paige Bingen
MF Ella Simpson
MF Nina Pavlica
MF Natalia Zalinski
F Suzie Knutte
F Brianna Sanchez
Benet
GK Shannon Clark
D Nora Hanson
D Annastacia Thiel
D Sadie Sterbenz
M Bailey Abbott
M Katie Lewellyan
M Brinkley Douglas
M Reese MacDonald
F Gabriela DiMatteo
F Mariana Pinto
F Keira Petrucelli
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Keira Petrucelli, fr., F, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet — Petrucelli (Pinto) 5’
Benet — Petrucelli (Llewellyan) 12’
Second half
Benet — Llewellyan (Pinto) 55’
Benet — Abbott (Burns) 80’
Lemont — Knutte (UA) 80’