Benet rallies past Joliet Catholic
for share of ESCC title
Lewellyan brace, MacDonald goal, assist lead to 4-1 win
By Matt Le Cren
LISLE -- Benet midfielder Katie Lewellyan spent much of the halftime break getting her left foot taped by a trainer.
She had a blister on the foot and playing in the terribly muddy and rainy conditions didn’t help matters.
“I had a Band-Aid on it,” Lewellyan said. “But the mud and rain got rid of it.”
The tape job must have worked. Lewellyan scored two goals, including the game-winner in the second half, to lift the host Redwings to a 4-1 East Suburban Catholic Conference win over Joliet Catholic.
Benet (13-4-0, 6-0-0) clinched at least a share of the league title for the third-consecutive season. The Redwings can take sole possession of the crown if they beat or tie Saint Viator at home Monday.
“This conference is tough,” Benet coach Gerard Oconer said. “Pretty much the top four or five teams, it’s going to be a battle every game, and obviously with us winning the last couple years, there was always a target on our back.
“We always get the best, especially from the top teams in our conference. We’ve got another big one on Monday because we’re trying to win this one outright.”
The Redwings beat Joliet Catholic (12-5-1, 3-2-1) in large part because of Lewellyan, who scored off a pass from Brinkley Douglas to break a 1-1 tie just 1:09 into the second half. She added a second goal eight minutes later, with Reese MacDonald getting the assist.
“On the first one, Brinkley played me a ball in space,” Lewellyan said. “I maneuvered around a few players and just shot it. It went far right post and inside the post.
“The second one, I was coming off the left side diving into the middle, and Reese played a great ball over. I just tapped it in.”
Speaking of taps, one from the father of teammate Anna Casmere might have had something to do with Lewellyan’s success.
“Mr. Casmere gave me a fist bump at halftime,” Lewellyan said. “He said it was his fist bump that got me to score those two goals.”
Whatever the reason, they were much-needed strikes for the Redwings but indicative of how dominant they were after trailing early.
The Angels grabbed a 1-0 lead with 24:47 left in the first half when Regan White knocked home a cross from Bella Berta.
But the Redwings got the equalizer at the 13:34 mark when Lewis-bound striker Mariana Pinto scored off a rebound after Casmere’s shot from the right wing was blocked by Joliet Catholic.
“I think we’ve finally learned how to bounce back and be more resilient when we go down,” Lewellyan said. “Beginning of the season, we’d have more issues with it, but now we’ve really clicked, and we’re able to do that.”
And it showed. Pasternak made four saves in the first half, including two more on Casmere, to keep the Angels even before Benet broke open the floodgates after intermission.
“We knew with the offensive firepower that they had that they’d come out strong, but we also knew that we had much more depth than them,” Oconer said. “Once we settled into the game a little bit, once we were able to win some balls in the midfield and find our forwards, the game was completely different the last 60 minutes.”
Indeed, Benet’s backline of Bailey Abbott, Nora Hanson, Annastacia Thiel and Sadie Sterbenz held firm despite the muck, and the attacking crew found their footing to take over the action.
Abbott has played well in solidifying the defense since Oconer moved her from the midfield. Trading places with Abbott was Reese MacDonald, who also made an impact at her new position.
MacDonald finished the scoring after setting up Lewellyan’s second goal. She deflected a corner kick from Rachel Burns into the net in the 54th minute for her third goal of the season. She also has five assists.
“We practice corner kicks a lot, and I like getting on the end of them,” MacDonald said. “It’s easier to attack corners, I think, than defend, because you’re just going for the ball.”
MacDonald went for this ball in an unorthodox way.
“We always make jokes in practice about ‘atomic’ knee balls,” MacDonald said. “If a ball is coming toward coach Oconer, he will knee it, and I ended up scoring with my knee. So that was really fun to come back to the bench afterward, because that’s a team joke.”
MacDonald’s play has been no joke, and neither was her journey back to fitness. The junior tore the ACL in her right knee twice,
“It was obviously really tough to get through it mentally, and it was hard seeing my friends being able to play soccer,” MacDonald said. “But they included me so much, and I was always such a part of Benet, regardless of my injury status, which was awesome.
“That was Mr. Oconer and coach U (Martin Uscila) involving me. That made it leaps and bounds easier to get back to playing soccer, because I knew I was so involved with this team. and I felt welcome. So, it was easier on the recovery.”
MacDonald’s knee is 100 percent, though she is battling a bruised right shin that she suffered two weeks ago against St. Charles North. The muddy conditions were a challenge, though ultimately not a hindrance, to her Thursday.
“There was concern with that, but I’ve kind of learned how to not fall on my right leg, which probably isn’t great,” MacDonald said. “I should just learn how to stay on my feet, but I’m not very good at that.
“So, there was concern with that, but there’s concern with every game that you play. So, you’ve just got to risk it whenever.”
Oconer thinks we haven’t seen the best of MacDonald yet. The move to the midfield will allow her to play to her strengths more often.
“She hadn’t played for two years,” Oconer said. “I think that she’s still trying to get back in the swing of things.
“She is an incredible athlete, so for her being able to play without any fear or hesitation is key. I think she’s still trying to get to that point, but once she gets there, I think she’s going to be a force for us in the midfield, because she is so physically strong and so aggressive.
“We want to be able to allow her to take more chances and be more aggressive without having to worry about a mistake, so she has cover behind her. Playing center back, you can’t really have that kind of mindset. You have to play more conservative.”
New midfield mate Lewellyan was liberal, not conservative, in her praise of MacDonald.
“We’re all so happy to have her back from her ACL,” Lewellyan said. “We all tried to support her through it, and we’re glad to have her.
“She’s super strong. She’s a beast and holds down the middle. It’s super exciting.”
MacDonald is thrilled to be able to work with senior leaders like Lewellyan.
“It was awesome being able to come back with this being my first season here and getting to play with Katie Lewellyan, who is insane. She’s so good,” MacDonald said. “She was also huge when I was coming back from my injury.
“She was always really nice, so it was nice just being able to assist to her (today), and she’s so deserving of a goal.”
Starting lineups
Joliet Catholic
GK Abigail Pasternak
D Emmy Diaz
D Mary Jo Meyer
D Elizabeth Kennedy
M Lanie Czerkies
M Brynn Higgins
M Samantha Beckman
M Bella Berta
F Emma Gruber
F Elizabeth Cardwell
F Sophia Aiello
Benet
GK Shannon Clark
D Bailey Abbott
D Nora Hanson
D Sadie Sterbenz
D Annastacia Thiel
M Reese MacDonald
M Katie Lewellyan
M Brinkley Douglas
F Mariana Pinto
F Anna Casmere
F Gabi DiMatteo
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Katie Lewellyan, sr., MF, Benet.
Scoring summary
First half
JC: Regan White (Bella Berta) 24:47 remaining
B: Mariana Pinto (unassisted) 13:44 remaining
Second half
B: Katie Lewellyan (Brinkley Douglas) 38:51 remaining
B: Lewellyan (Reese MacDonald) 30:59 remaining
B: MacDonald (Rachel Burns) 26:54 remaining
for share of ESCC title
Lewellyan brace, MacDonald goal, assist lead to 4-1 win
By Matt Le Cren
LISLE -- Benet midfielder Katie Lewellyan spent much of the halftime break getting her left foot taped by a trainer.
She had a blister on the foot and playing in the terribly muddy and rainy conditions didn’t help matters.
“I had a Band-Aid on it,” Lewellyan said. “But the mud and rain got rid of it.”
The tape job must have worked. Lewellyan scored two goals, including the game-winner in the second half, to lift the host Redwings to a 4-1 East Suburban Catholic Conference win over Joliet Catholic.
Benet (13-4-0, 6-0-0) clinched at least a share of the league title for the third-consecutive season. The Redwings can take sole possession of the crown if they beat or tie Saint Viator at home Monday.
“This conference is tough,” Benet coach Gerard Oconer said. “Pretty much the top four or five teams, it’s going to be a battle every game, and obviously with us winning the last couple years, there was always a target on our back.
“We always get the best, especially from the top teams in our conference. We’ve got another big one on Monday because we’re trying to win this one outright.”
The Redwings beat Joliet Catholic (12-5-1, 3-2-1) in large part because of Lewellyan, who scored off a pass from Brinkley Douglas to break a 1-1 tie just 1:09 into the second half. She added a second goal eight minutes later, with Reese MacDonald getting the assist.
“On the first one, Brinkley played me a ball in space,” Lewellyan said. “I maneuvered around a few players and just shot it. It went far right post and inside the post.
“The second one, I was coming off the left side diving into the middle, and Reese played a great ball over. I just tapped it in.”
Speaking of taps, one from the father of teammate Anna Casmere might have had something to do with Lewellyan’s success.
“Mr. Casmere gave me a fist bump at halftime,” Lewellyan said. “He said it was his fist bump that got me to score those two goals.”
Whatever the reason, they were much-needed strikes for the Redwings but indicative of how dominant they were after trailing early.
The Angels grabbed a 1-0 lead with 24:47 left in the first half when Regan White knocked home a cross from Bella Berta.
But the Redwings got the equalizer at the 13:34 mark when Lewis-bound striker Mariana Pinto scored off a rebound after Casmere’s shot from the right wing was blocked by Joliet Catholic.
“I think we’ve finally learned how to bounce back and be more resilient when we go down,” Lewellyan said. “Beginning of the season, we’d have more issues with it, but now we’ve really clicked, and we’re able to do that.”
And it showed. Pasternak made four saves in the first half, including two more on Casmere, to keep the Angels even before Benet broke open the floodgates after intermission.
“We knew with the offensive firepower that they had that they’d come out strong, but we also knew that we had much more depth than them,” Oconer said. “Once we settled into the game a little bit, once we were able to win some balls in the midfield and find our forwards, the game was completely different the last 60 minutes.”
Indeed, Benet’s backline of Bailey Abbott, Nora Hanson, Annastacia Thiel and Sadie Sterbenz held firm despite the muck, and the attacking crew found their footing to take over the action.
Abbott has played well in solidifying the defense since Oconer moved her from the midfield. Trading places with Abbott was Reese MacDonald, who also made an impact at her new position.
MacDonald finished the scoring after setting up Lewellyan’s second goal. She deflected a corner kick from Rachel Burns into the net in the 54th minute for her third goal of the season. She also has five assists.
“We practice corner kicks a lot, and I like getting on the end of them,” MacDonald said. “It’s easier to attack corners, I think, than defend, because you’re just going for the ball.”
MacDonald went for this ball in an unorthodox way.
“We always make jokes in practice about ‘atomic’ knee balls,” MacDonald said. “If a ball is coming toward coach Oconer, he will knee it, and I ended up scoring with my knee. So that was really fun to come back to the bench afterward, because that’s a team joke.”
MacDonald’s play has been no joke, and neither was her journey back to fitness. The junior tore the ACL in her right knee twice,
“It was obviously really tough to get through it mentally, and it was hard seeing my friends being able to play soccer,” MacDonald said. “But they included me so much, and I was always such a part of Benet, regardless of my injury status, which was awesome.
“That was Mr. Oconer and coach U (Martin Uscila) involving me. That made it leaps and bounds easier to get back to playing soccer, because I knew I was so involved with this team. and I felt welcome. So, it was easier on the recovery.”
MacDonald’s knee is 100 percent, though she is battling a bruised right shin that she suffered two weeks ago against St. Charles North. The muddy conditions were a challenge, though ultimately not a hindrance, to her Thursday.
“There was concern with that, but I’ve kind of learned how to not fall on my right leg, which probably isn’t great,” MacDonald said. “I should just learn how to stay on my feet, but I’m not very good at that.
“So, there was concern with that, but there’s concern with every game that you play. So, you’ve just got to risk it whenever.”
Oconer thinks we haven’t seen the best of MacDonald yet. The move to the midfield will allow her to play to her strengths more often.
“She hadn’t played for two years,” Oconer said. “I think that she’s still trying to get back in the swing of things.
“She is an incredible athlete, so for her being able to play without any fear or hesitation is key. I think she’s still trying to get to that point, but once she gets there, I think she’s going to be a force for us in the midfield, because she is so physically strong and so aggressive.
“We want to be able to allow her to take more chances and be more aggressive without having to worry about a mistake, so she has cover behind her. Playing center back, you can’t really have that kind of mindset. You have to play more conservative.”
New midfield mate Lewellyan was liberal, not conservative, in her praise of MacDonald.
“We’re all so happy to have her back from her ACL,” Lewellyan said. “We all tried to support her through it, and we’re glad to have her.
“She’s super strong. She’s a beast and holds down the middle. It’s super exciting.”
MacDonald is thrilled to be able to work with senior leaders like Lewellyan.
“It was awesome being able to come back with this being my first season here and getting to play with Katie Lewellyan, who is insane. She’s so good,” MacDonald said. “She was also huge when I was coming back from my injury.
“She was always really nice, so it was nice just being able to assist to her (today), and she’s so deserving of a goal.”
Starting lineups
Joliet Catholic
GK Abigail Pasternak
D Emmy Diaz
D Mary Jo Meyer
D Elizabeth Kennedy
M Lanie Czerkies
M Brynn Higgins
M Samantha Beckman
M Bella Berta
F Emma Gruber
F Elizabeth Cardwell
F Sophia Aiello
Benet
GK Shannon Clark
D Bailey Abbott
D Nora Hanson
D Sadie Sterbenz
D Annastacia Thiel
M Reese MacDonald
M Katie Lewellyan
M Brinkley Douglas
F Mariana Pinto
F Anna Casmere
F Gabi DiMatteo
Chicagoland Soccer MVP of the Match: Katie Lewellyan, sr., MF, Benet.
Scoring summary
First half
JC: Regan White (Bella Berta) 24:47 remaining
B: Mariana Pinto (unassisted) 13:44 remaining
Second half
B: Katie Lewellyan (Brinkley Douglas) 38:51 remaining
B: Lewellyan (Reese MacDonald) 30:59 remaining
B: MacDonald (Rachel Burns) 26:54 remaining