Pair of fast starts boost Benet over Marist
Redwings score in first minute of both halves in 3-2 road victory
By Steve Millar
CHICAGO – It was hard to imagine a better start to a half than the one Benet got off to at the beginning of Wednesday night’s game against Marist.
That is, until the second half, when the Redwings may have topped themselves.
Benet scored in the opening minute of both halves and held off resilient Marist
for a 3-2 road victory in an East Suburban Catholic Conference match.
“The kids were excited,” Benet coach Sean Wesley said. “We’ve started some games slow so we know that’s been an issue. We started this one on fire. We had a lot of chances in the first half. It just happened that T.J. (McVey) came out and buried the very first one. That always helps.
“It was kind of the same story in the second half. What a goal by John (Kolb).”
In a clash between two teams who are both honorable mention squads in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, the Redwings (6-3, 3-0) struck just 27 seconds in.
Brendan Forsythe tracked down a loose ball and slipped a quick pass to McVey down the right sideline. The speedy senior broke toward the net and ripped a shot inside the far post to stun Marist (5-4-1, 2-1-0).
“We had a good warmup,” McVey said. “We were intense in the beginning. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game. I got a good pass, and I finished it off. It was a good start.
“We just got motivated at the beginning of the halves to start strong. We knew everything would fall into place after that if we could get momentum going our way.”
McVey, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match, scored again in the second half.
“The best thing about T.J. is he never passes up a chance,” Wesley said. “Every game, he’s going to create opportunities. That’s not always the case in high school soccer. You have forwards who might take one shot in a game. T.J.’s never going to try to take one shot. It’s going to be 10-plus. That opens the game for other players, because the defense starts to draw on T.J.”
Marist fought back well after the opening blow. Senior Marc Anthony Carreon made a strong bid for the equalizer on a free kick from 30 yards in the 10th minute. Carreon sent a high shot on goal, but Benet goalkeeper Evan Lucas leaped to tip it over the crossbar.
Liam Bennett had another shot on goal for the RedHawks off a free kick, which Lucas stopped.
Marist goalkeeper Max Perez, meanwhile, made some big saves of his own, including two in a one-minute sequence just past the midway point of the half.
Nico Picha got a good look for Benet off a nice setup from Daniel Pepping, but Perez was able to block the shot with his body.
Moments later, Picha played a long pass ahead and sprung Owen McGarry free on a breakaway down the left side. Perez charged out of the net and made a sliding save, kicking McGarry’s shot away.
Perez finished with nine saves.
Any good feelings Marist had built up with its strong response to falling behind were quickly dashed at the start of the second half, however.
After the RedHawks got a little sloppy in the back, Kolb corralled a loose ball and fired a quick shot from 30 yards, burying it in the top right corner to make it 2-0 just 50 seconds into the half.
“It’s always fun to hit one like that and watch it roll into the upper 90,” Kolb said. “That’s always fun to see. I hit it, I looked up; and I’m like, ‘Ooo.’ Then it went in. That was fun.”
It was not fun for Marist to see.
“All we talk about is not coming out flat,” Marist coach Sean Maxwell said. “It’s not even that we came out flat, but we know we want to feel the game out a little more before we start knocking the ball around from the back against a team like that.
“They pounced on it not once, but twice. It hurt the first time because we had just talked about it in the classroom before coming out here. But having it happen again in the second time really takes the wind out of you. We did respond, though. We’ve been down before. We know we can climb back.”
Indeed, Marist was able to pull within one less than five minutes later when Bennett took a free kick from 30 yards and ripped a high shot inside the right post.
“I was going to set up for it and a lot of our guys were saying for me to go hit it,” Bennett said. “I figured I’d just give it a whack. I tried to trick the keeper and go to the opposite side. It worked out.
“Theintensity was always high, and we kept our heads up. The support from the bench and our crowd and everything really helps. The great thing with this team is we know if we go down, no one’s head is going to drop.”
The RedHawks had a great chance to tie the game with just over 23 minutes to go. Some prolonged Marist pressure led to a scramble in the box and Carreon got the ball just outside the box with Lucas off his line.
Carreon sent a trickling shot through traffic and bound for the open net, but Benet senior Jared Plummer slid in to knock it away, making a non-goalie save.
“That was a great play by them. But if we get that to go, it’s a different game,” Maxwell said.
McVey gave Benet some cushion, taking a pass from Picha and beating Perez with a low line drive from 25 yards to make it 3-1 with 19:17 to go.
“Games like this are scrappy, and you just have to take what you can get,” McVey said. “The second goal I just saw a chance to shoot, took the shot, and it went in.”
Falling down two late seemed to deflate Marist, but the RedHawks managed one more strong push in the final minutes.
After creating a few dangerous chances, the RedHawks broke through a bit too late. Carreon’s corner kick was knocked around before settling on the feet of reserve midfielder Aydan Wilson.
Wilson ripped a brilliant strike from 35 yards, tucking it just under the crossbar, to make it 3-2.
Just 13 seconds remained, however, and there was no chance for Marist to tie.
Still, there were some positives for the RedHawks to take away.
“They were the AA state champs two years ago,” Bennett said of Benet. “We came pretty close, so that might mean we have a run for it this year. We’re in AA this year.”
Benet, meanwhile, has dealt with some rare adversity with three losses in its first seven games after losing just twice in the 2019 and 2020 seasons combined.
“We had a lot of new guys coming in with a lot of different styles of play,” Kolb said. “We’re starting to play as one unit, one group, one mindset and that’s helping us get more results.
“I think we had a couple wake-up calls where we realized it’s not going to be easy this season, and we have to keep working every practice, every game, 100 percent.”
Wesley likes the way things are developing, though there is still work to be done.
“It’s just a different year, a different group of kids,” he said. “The dynamic we’ve had was we felt like we were almost starting from scratch. We’ve had some adversity, and we’ve had to learn some things, too. We’re still learning. We’re not a finished product, by any stretch. Other teams’ coaches keep saying, ‘Oh, on paper, you guys are really good.’ We have a lot of pieces, but we’re still trying to piece the puzzle together.
“Finishing like we did tonight, that helps. But we have to defend better. Giving up two goals, that’s not our style. We can’t foul at the top of the box and give them that free kick. Those are basics, but we’re figuring that all out.”
Starting lineups
Benet
GK – Evan Lucas
D – Jared Plummer
D – Evan Frazier
D – Nick Roe
MF – Danny Boyle
MF – John Kolb
MF – Nico Picha
MF – Brendan Forsythe
MF – Daniel Pepping
F – T.J. McVey
F – Andy Nash
Marist
GK – Max Perez
D – Sam McNamara
D – Collin McGuire
D – Brendan Chesniak
D – Liam Bennett
MF – Christian Bedgood
MF – Marc Anthony Carreon
MF – Christian Chavez
MF – Danny Olsen
MF – Conor Cooke
F – Bryson Roberts
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: T.J. McVey, sr. F, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet – McVey (Forsythe), 1st minute
Second half
Benet – Kolb (unassisted), 41st minute
Marist – Bennett (free kick), 46th minute
Benet – McVey (Picha), 61st minute
Marist – Aydan Wilson (unassisted), 80th minute
Redwings score in first minute of both halves in 3-2 road victory
By Steve Millar
CHICAGO – It was hard to imagine a better start to a half than the one Benet got off to at the beginning of Wednesday night’s game against Marist.
That is, until the second half, when the Redwings may have topped themselves.
Benet scored in the opening minute of both halves and held off resilient Marist
for a 3-2 road victory in an East Suburban Catholic Conference match.
“The kids were excited,” Benet coach Sean Wesley said. “We’ve started some games slow so we know that’s been an issue. We started this one on fire. We had a lot of chances in the first half. It just happened that T.J. (McVey) came out and buried the very first one. That always helps.
“It was kind of the same story in the second half. What a goal by John (Kolb).”
In a clash between two teams who are both honorable mention squads in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25, the Redwings (6-3, 3-0) struck just 27 seconds in.
Brendan Forsythe tracked down a loose ball and slipped a quick pass to McVey down the right sideline. The speedy senior broke toward the net and ripped a shot inside the far post to stun Marist (5-4-1, 2-1-0).
“We had a good warmup,” McVey said. “We were intense in the beginning. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game. I got a good pass, and I finished it off. It was a good start.
“We just got motivated at the beginning of the halves to start strong. We knew everything would fall into place after that if we could get momentum going our way.”
McVey, Chicagoland Soccer’s Man of the Match, scored again in the second half.
“The best thing about T.J. is he never passes up a chance,” Wesley said. “Every game, he’s going to create opportunities. That’s not always the case in high school soccer. You have forwards who might take one shot in a game. T.J.’s never going to try to take one shot. It’s going to be 10-plus. That opens the game for other players, because the defense starts to draw on T.J.”
Marist fought back well after the opening blow. Senior Marc Anthony Carreon made a strong bid for the equalizer on a free kick from 30 yards in the 10th minute. Carreon sent a high shot on goal, but Benet goalkeeper Evan Lucas leaped to tip it over the crossbar.
Liam Bennett had another shot on goal for the RedHawks off a free kick, which Lucas stopped.
Marist goalkeeper Max Perez, meanwhile, made some big saves of his own, including two in a one-minute sequence just past the midway point of the half.
Nico Picha got a good look for Benet off a nice setup from Daniel Pepping, but Perez was able to block the shot with his body.
Moments later, Picha played a long pass ahead and sprung Owen McGarry free on a breakaway down the left side. Perez charged out of the net and made a sliding save, kicking McGarry’s shot away.
Perez finished with nine saves.
Any good feelings Marist had built up with its strong response to falling behind were quickly dashed at the start of the second half, however.
After the RedHawks got a little sloppy in the back, Kolb corralled a loose ball and fired a quick shot from 30 yards, burying it in the top right corner to make it 2-0 just 50 seconds into the half.
“It’s always fun to hit one like that and watch it roll into the upper 90,” Kolb said. “That’s always fun to see. I hit it, I looked up; and I’m like, ‘Ooo.’ Then it went in. That was fun.”
It was not fun for Marist to see.
“All we talk about is not coming out flat,” Marist coach Sean Maxwell said. “It’s not even that we came out flat, but we know we want to feel the game out a little more before we start knocking the ball around from the back against a team like that.
“They pounced on it not once, but twice. It hurt the first time because we had just talked about it in the classroom before coming out here. But having it happen again in the second time really takes the wind out of you. We did respond, though. We’ve been down before. We know we can climb back.”
Indeed, Marist was able to pull within one less than five minutes later when Bennett took a free kick from 30 yards and ripped a high shot inside the right post.
“I was going to set up for it and a lot of our guys were saying for me to go hit it,” Bennett said. “I figured I’d just give it a whack. I tried to trick the keeper and go to the opposite side. It worked out.
“Theintensity was always high, and we kept our heads up. The support from the bench and our crowd and everything really helps. The great thing with this team is we know if we go down, no one’s head is going to drop.”
The RedHawks had a great chance to tie the game with just over 23 minutes to go. Some prolonged Marist pressure led to a scramble in the box and Carreon got the ball just outside the box with Lucas off his line.
Carreon sent a trickling shot through traffic and bound for the open net, but Benet senior Jared Plummer slid in to knock it away, making a non-goalie save.
“That was a great play by them. But if we get that to go, it’s a different game,” Maxwell said.
McVey gave Benet some cushion, taking a pass from Picha and beating Perez with a low line drive from 25 yards to make it 3-1 with 19:17 to go.
“Games like this are scrappy, and you just have to take what you can get,” McVey said. “The second goal I just saw a chance to shoot, took the shot, and it went in.”
Falling down two late seemed to deflate Marist, but the RedHawks managed one more strong push in the final minutes.
After creating a few dangerous chances, the RedHawks broke through a bit too late. Carreon’s corner kick was knocked around before settling on the feet of reserve midfielder Aydan Wilson.
Wilson ripped a brilliant strike from 35 yards, tucking it just under the crossbar, to make it 3-2.
Just 13 seconds remained, however, and there was no chance for Marist to tie.
Still, there were some positives for the RedHawks to take away.
“They were the AA state champs two years ago,” Bennett said of Benet. “We came pretty close, so that might mean we have a run for it this year. We’re in AA this year.”
Benet, meanwhile, has dealt with some rare adversity with three losses in its first seven games after losing just twice in the 2019 and 2020 seasons combined.
“We had a lot of new guys coming in with a lot of different styles of play,” Kolb said. “We’re starting to play as one unit, one group, one mindset and that’s helping us get more results.
“I think we had a couple wake-up calls where we realized it’s not going to be easy this season, and we have to keep working every practice, every game, 100 percent.”
Wesley likes the way things are developing, though there is still work to be done.
“It’s just a different year, a different group of kids,” he said. “The dynamic we’ve had was we felt like we were almost starting from scratch. We’ve had some adversity, and we’ve had to learn some things, too. We’re still learning. We’re not a finished product, by any stretch. Other teams’ coaches keep saying, ‘Oh, on paper, you guys are really good.’ We have a lot of pieces, but we’re still trying to piece the puzzle together.
“Finishing like we did tonight, that helps. But we have to defend better. Giving up two goals, that’s not our style. We can’t foul at the top of the box and give them that free kick. Those are basics, but we’re figuring that all out.”
Starting lineups
Benet
GK – Evan Lucas
D – Jared Plummer
D – Evan Frazier
D – Nick Roe
MF – Danny Boyle
MF – John Kolb
MF – Nico Picha
MF – Brendan Forsythe
MF – Daniel Pepping
F – T.J. McVey
F – Andy Nash
Marist
GK – Max Perez
D – Sam McNamara
D – Collin McGuire
D – Brendan Chesniak
D – Liam Bennett
MF – Christian Bedgood
MF – Marc Anthony Carreon
MF – Christian Chavez
MF – Danny Olsen
MF – Conor Cooke
F – Bryson Roberts
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match: T.J. McVey, sr. F, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet – McVey (Forsythe), 1st minute
Second half
Benet – Kolb (unassisted), 41st minute
Marist – Bennett (free kick), 46th minute
Benet – McVey (Picha), 61st minute
Marist – Aydan Wilson (unassisted), 80th minute