Benet tops Triad for title shot
Tommasone scores twice in 3-1 defeat of 2017 champs
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Benet backliners Mary Kate Hansen and Mary Kate Wilhelm have been best friends and teammates for more than a decade now.
From the earliest days of their on-field partnership they have harbored a dream -- one that they never realistically thought would become reality.
It did on Friday.
Hansen, Wilhelm and the rest of their teammates made history when they took the field at North Central College for Benet’s Class 2A state semifinal match against Triad.
It was the first time the Redwings qualified for the state semifinals, and they made their debut a smashing success.
Hansen, Wilhelm and fellow defenders Brooke Pullen and Kate Flynn allowed only two shots and Mia Tommasone scored twice as the Redwings knocked off the Knights 3-1.
Benet (23-3-1) will play Wauconda, which edged Joliet Catholic 1-0, at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Class AA final, fulfilling a longtime wish for Hansen, who has witnessed many title games but never played in one.
“We were talking before the game that we would come to these games when we were growing up,” Hansen said. “We’ve been playing together since I was 7 and every single year we used to come watch the state championship.
“It’s pretty special to be playing together in the state championship game.”
The vast majority of soccer players, of course, never get to experience such a thrill. Even the best players in the state are not guaranteed a spot, nor are the best teams. Injuries, bad matchups and the vagaries of an unpredictable sport can trip up even the most favored teams.
“Everything has to go your way,” Hansen said. “If you told 8-year-old me that I was (going to be) playing in a state championship game, I was pretty confident so I probably would have believed you, but it’s just a lifetime goal to get here.
“We’ve got one more game tomorrow. I couldn’t be more excited.”
There was plenty of excitement generated during Friday’s match, much of it by the Redwings, who controlled most of the action apart from a 15-minute stretch at the outset of the second half.
That’s when Triad (19-4-2), a two-time state champ, made things interesting. Freshman Avery Bohnenstiehl ran onto a loose ball just outside the Benet box and ripped a 20-yard shot into the lower left corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1 at the 31:52 mark.
“It was a long ball, one of the Benet girls hit it I think, and it came to me,” Bohnenstiehl said. “It was bouncing a little bit, and I put it in.
“It made me feel so happy on the inside. It kept our energy up."
Bohnenstiehl’s shot was just the second of the game for the Knights and also their last.
“Triad really had the run of play for the first 10-15 minutes of the second half,” Benet coach Gerard Oconer said. “All those long throw-ins were dangerous and when they scored that one, all the momentum was with them.
“But once we settled down, the last 15 minutes of the game we just controlled the play like we do, and eventually they wore down, and we won the game.”
That came as no surprise to Oconer, whose team has been rock solid on defense all season. They have allowed 16 goals and only four teams have tallied more than one goal against them.
“We hate getting scored on,” the University of Chicago-bound Hansen said. “One of our goals is to keep a shutout every game.
“But when the one goal goes in, we know we’re not giving up a second goal. We really bunker down.
“One goal is bad enough; we don’t want to give up two. It was a great goal on their part, but we definitely weren’t going to give up another.”
Benet Star senior Abby Casmere was a fierce presence in the final third throughout the game, doing the soccer equivalent of a Karl Malone post-up move over and over. The Miami of Ohio recruit caused the Knights headaches with her fancy footwork and turned defenders and even when she didn’t move. Her ability to hold the ball forced Triad to pay way too much attention to her.
That led to breakdowns which led to all three of Benet’s goals.
“That’s what happens when you’ve got a strong target forward,” Hansen said. “When they collapse on her, it opens up options for everyone else.
“She played great today. We couldn’t ask for a better game from her.”
Casmere got the assist on Tommasone’s goal, which came with 55 seconds left in the first half. Triad triple-teamed Casmere when she got the ball in the middle of the box, and she squirted a pass to the onrushing Tommasone for an eight-yard shot that resulted in a 1-0 lead.
“It was huge for us,” Tommasone said. “We needed that little burst of confidence going into the second half.”
The Knights managed to hold off the Redwings’ relentless pressure in the second half until Casmere again posted up a defender in the box. This time she was knocked to the ground, giving Benet a penalty kick.
Flynn stepped to the spot and calmly ripped a shot into the lower right corner for the go-ahead goal with 11:01 remaining.
“Abby earned the PK that I finished,” Flynn said. “That was fabulous.
“She’s been really great this year at holding the ball up there for us, so when she earned the PK and (the coaches) were telling me to take it I was like, ‘OK, gotta do what you got to do.'”
Triad keeper Abbey Counts took a step to her right but never left her feet as Flynn beat her the opposite way for her third goal of the season.
“Eva (Frantzen), our goalie, always tells me that my PK looks like it’s going one way, and it always goes the other way,” Flynn said.
Later, Flynn, who earned Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors, placed a corner kick exactly where she wanted it to go, but not to the person she expected.
But everything worked out well on the play when Tommasone emphatically volleyed the ball home from six yards to cap the scoring with 5:54 to go.
“Normally Mary Kate Hansen is our target on those because she’s one of our best players in the air,” Flynn said. “So I would just try to put it right at the top of the 6, which is where it ended up going, and it’s fabulous that Mia was there, and the volley was fantastic.”
So was the feeling the Redwings had after moving themselves within one win of their ultimate goal, which would cap an incredible school year for Benet. The girls volleyball and girls basketball teams also qualified for the state semifinals, but both of those programs have won multiple state championships.
“I’m really excited,” Tommasone said. “I think our whole team is super excited to advance to the finals.”
Said Flynn: “We’ve been working for this all season. At the beginning of the year we said we’ve got to take it game-by game, but now we’ve reached our goal so we’re super excited for tomorrow.”
Starting lineups
Benet
GK Eva Frantzen
D Brooke Pullen
D Kate Flynn
D Mary Kate Hansen
D Mary Kate Wilhelm
M Kayla Brannigan
M Mia Tommasone
M Mia Ullmer
F Jaimee Cibulka
F Cami Picha
F Abby Casmere
Triad
GK Abbey Counts
D Sierra Schlemmer
D Eryn Fanning
D Avery Bohnenstiehl
D Sydney Beach
D Emily Rosenthal
M Molly Suess
M Kylie Maur
F Jordyn Besserman
F Chelsea Riden
F Katie Rogers
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Mia Tommasone, jr., MF, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet – Mia Tommasone (Abby Casmere) :55
Second half
Triad – Abbey Bohnenstiehl (unassisted) 31:52
Benet – Kate Flynn (PK) 11:01
Benet – Tommasone (Flynn) 5:54
Tommasone scores twice in 3-1 defeat of 2017 champs
By Matt Le Cren
NAPERVILLE – Benet backliners Mary Kate Hansen and Mary Kate Wilhelm have been best friends and teammates for more than a decade now.
From the earliest days of their on-field partnership they have harbored a dream -- one that they never realistically thought would become reality.
It did on Friday.
Hansen, Wilhelm and the rest of their teammates made history when they took the field at North Central College for Benet’s Class 2A state semifinal match against Triad.
It was the first time the Redwings qualified for the state semifinals, and they made their debut a smashing success.
Hansen, Wilhelm and fellow defenders Brooke Pullen and Kate Flynn allowed only two shots and Mia Tommasone scored twice as the Redwings knocked off the Knights 3-1.
Benet (23-3-1) will play Wauconda, which edged Joliet Catholic 1-0, at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Class AA final, fulfilling a longtime wish for Hansen, who has witnessed many title games but never played in one.
“We were talking before the game that we would come to these games when we were growing up,” Hansen said. “We’ve been playing together since I was 7 and every single year we used to come watch the state championship.
“It’s pretty special to be playing together in the state championship game.”
The vast majority of soccer players, of course, never get to experience such a thrill. Even the best players in the state are not guaranteed a spot, nor are the best teams. Injuries, bad matchups and the vagaries of an unpredictable sport can trip up even the most favored teams.
“Everything has to go your way,” Hansen said. “If you told 8-year-old me that I was (going to be) playing in a state championship game, I was pretty confident so I probably would have believed you, but it’s just a lifetime goal to get here.
“We’ve got one more game tomorrow. I couldn’t be more excited.”
There was plenty of excitement generated during Friday’s match, much of it by the Redwings, who controlled most of the action apart from a 15-minute stretch at the outset of the second half.
That’s when Triad (19-4-2), a two-time state champ, made things interesting. Freshman Avery Bohnenstiehl ran onto a loose ball just outside the Benet box and ripped a 20-yard shot into the lower left corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1 at the 31:52 mark.
“It was a long ball, one of the Benet girls hit it I think, and it came to me,” Bohnenstiehl said. “It was bouncing a little bit, and I put it in.
“It made me feel so happy on the inside. It kept our energy up."
Bohnenstiehl’s shot was just the second of the game for the Knights and also their last.
“Triad really had the run of play for the first 10-15 minutes of the second half,” Benet coach Gerard Oconer said. “All those long throw-ins were dangerous and when they scored that one, all the momentum was with them.
“But once we settled down, the last 15 minutes of the game we just controlled the play like we do, and eventually they wore down, and we won the game.”
That came as no surprise to Oconer, whose team has been rock solid on defense all season. They have allowed 16 goals and only four teams have tallied more than one goal against them.
“We hate getting scored on,” the University of Chicago-bound Hansen said. “One of our goals is to keep a shutout every game.
“But when the one goal goes in, we know we’re not giving up a second goal. We really bunker down.
“One goal is bad enough; we don’t want to give up two. It was a great goal on their part, but we definitely weren’t going to give up another.”
Benet Star senior Abby Casmere was a fierce presence in the final third throughout the game, doing the soccer equivalent of a Karl Malone post-up move over and over. The Miami of Ohio recruit caused the Knights headaches with her fancy footwork and turned defenders and even when she didn’t move. Her ability to hold the ball forced Triad to pay way too much attention to her.
That led to breakdowns which led to all three of Benet’s goals.
“That’s what happens when you’ve got a strong target forward,” Hansen said. “When they collapse on her, it opens up options for everyone else.
“She played great today. We couldn’t ask for a better game from her.”
Casmere got the assist on Tommasone’s goal, which came with 55 seconds left in the first half. Triad triple-teamed Casmere when she got the ball in the middle of the box, and she squirted a pass to the onrushing Tommasone for an eight-yard shot that resulted in a 1-0 lead.
“It was huge for us,” Tommasone said. “We needed that little burst of confidence going into the second half.”
The Knights managed to hold off the Redwings’ relentless pressure in the second half until Casmere again posted up a defender in the box. This time she was knocked to the ground, giving Benet a penalty kick.
Flynn stepped to the spot and calmly ripped a shot into the lower right corner for the go-ahead goal with 11:01 remaining.
“Abby earned the PK that I finished,” Flynn said. “That was fabulous.
“She’s been really great this year at holding the ball up there for us, so when she earned the PK and (the coaches) were telling me to take it I was like, ‘OK, gotta do what you got to do.'”
Triad keeper Abbey Counts took a step to her right but never left her feet as Flynn beat her the opposite way for her third goal of the season.
“Eva (Frantzen), our goalie, always tells me that my PK looks like it’s going one way, and it always goes the other way,” Flynn said.
Later, Flynn, who earned Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match honors, placed a corner kick exactly where she wanted it to go, but not to the person she expected.
But everything worked out well on the play when Tommasone emphatically volleyed the ball home from six yards to cap the scoring with 5:54 to go.
“Normally Mary Kate Hansen is our target on those because she’s one of our best players in the air,” Flynn said. “So I would just try to put it right at the top of the 6, which is where it ended up going, and it’s fabulous that Mia was there, and the volley was fantastic.”
So was the feeling the Redwings had after moving themselves within one win of their ultimate goal, which would cap an incredible school year for Benet. The girls volleyball and girls basketball teams also qualified for the state semifinals, but both of those programs have won multiple state championships.
“I’m really excited,” Tommasone said. “I think our whole team is super excited to advance to the finals.”
Said Flynn: “We’ve been working for this all season. At the beginning of the year we said we’ve got to take it game-by game, but now we’ve reached our goal so we’re super excited for tomorrow.”
Starting lineups
Benet
GK Eva Frantzen
D Brooke Pullen
D Kate Flynn
D Mary Kate Hansen
D Mary Kate Wilhelm
M Kayla Brannigan
M Mia Tommasone
M Mia Ullmer
F Jaimee Cibulka
F Cami Picha
F Abby Casmere
Triad
GK Abbey Counts
D Sierra Schlemmer
D Eryn Fanning
D Avery Bohnenstiehl
D Sydney Beach
D Emily Rosenthal
M Molly Suess
M Kylie Maur
F Jordyn Besserman
F Chelsea Riden
F Katie Rogers
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match – Mia Tommasone, jr., MF, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet – Mia Tommasone (Abby Casmere) :55
Second half
Triad – Abbey Bohnenstiehl (unassisted) 31:52
Benet – Kate Flynn (PK) 11:01
Benet – Tommasone (Flynn) 5:54