Benet blanks Naperville Central
Senior Warren moves to D, scores game-winner in 1-0 win
By Matt Le Cren
LISLE – Kyle Kohlsaat had a simple explanation when asked Saturday why Benet’s defense has been so dominant lately.
“I think it’s just we’ve all gotten comfortable with each other,” Kohlsaat said. “We’re communicating well, and we’re just having fun out there.”
The fun continued with a 1-0 victory over visiting Naperville Central. It was the fifth-straight win – all via shutout – for the Redwings, who improved to 12-3-1 and have posted 11 shutouts.
The backline of Kohlsaat, fellow senior Jonny Mitra, junior Thomas Miskin and sophomore Zack Serafin has allowed only seven goals this season.
The excellence continued even in the absence of Miskin, who missed Saturday’s game following the death of his grandfather. Into the breach stepped senior midfielder C.J. Warren, who replaced Miskin at left back and scored the only goal of the game.
“I love when C.J. scores goals,” Kohlsaat said. “He’s a great leader. At practice he’s always positive, on and off the field. He’s just a good person.”
Warren was a good candidate to fill in for Miskin.
“I’ve played left back with Kyle in club, so I’m kind of used to it,” Warren said. “But I wasn’t expecting a goal out of it.”
The goal came in the 28th minute on a rocket shot from the top of the box that deflected off a defender and past Naperville Central goalie Brad Palagi. It was the third goal of the season for Warren.
“Jonny threw the ball in,” Warren said. “One of their big center backs headed it back out.
“I just crashed and put it on frame. It took a deflection and went in.”
Naperville Central coach Troy Adams referred to it as an own goal but didn’t blame his defense, which was nearly as stellar as Benet’s.
“(The Redwings) play physical. and they play hard; and they find a way to score,” Adams said. “It was a good own goal.
“It wasn’t one where a guy was facing the wrong way and tried to kick it, and it goes in because those are bad own goals. It was a kid trying to make a play, and it unfortunately went in.”
Adams used the word unfortunately several times in his postgame remarks. That reflected his feelings on a season that is trending in the wrong direction for the Redhawks (5-7-4), who have lost four of their last five games. They have been shut out in three of those losses and six times overall.
This loss was particularly frustrating for Adams because the Redhawks failed to create any quality scoring chances. They had one shot in the second half when Owen Jarrell drove to the left end line in the 66th minute and rolled a centering pass that went through the crease untouched before Anthony Saavedra unloaded a shot that had plenty of pace but was several yards too high
“There wasn’t a lot of sustained quality play,” Adams said. “It was chippy, the ball in the air. Unfortunately that’s not something that benefits us. We need to get the ball on the ground and get it moving.”
The Redhawks, who have yet to win consecutive matches, are running out of time to get moving. They have only one regular season game left before embarking on a tough – and potentially brief – path in the playoffs.
Naperville Central is at the tough Naperville North Regional and would have to beat Neuqua Valley in the semifinals to get to a much-anticipated rematch with top-ranked Naperville North in the final.
“We’ve talked about it enough but we have not played a consistent 80 minutes during the whole year,” Adams said. “We play 20 here, 40 there, 60 here.
“I thought we played Morton outstanding in the second half (of a 2-0 loss on Thursday). We took the first 40 minutes off.
“We can’t sustain it. What that tells me is we’re not really mentally disciplined enough to do what we need to do to win.”
The Redwings, on the other, appear to have no such difficulty. While their offense is not especially potent, they have been winning the midfield battle in addition to playing great defense.
“(The backline) is a great mix,” Benet coach Sean Wesley said. “Kyle is big and strong and has done it before, has all that experience and then you pair him with a guy like Zach, who is an up-and-comer, he had his best game of the year today.
“Tom is an underclassman but started every game for us last year. And then Jonny is that senior leader who wants to get the ball, wants to keep it for us, wants to play big passes out of the back.”
Naperville Central was unable to solve that problem, but they are not alone. Yet the problem for Benet’s opponents runs deeper.
“I thought a lot about why we make things difficult for people,” Wesley said. “Our backline is really good, but I also think Anthony Klos and Nick Renfro in the midfield just make it so difficult for other teams to come out (of their zone).
“So they never build into their offense, because those two guys are just tireless workers on defense. Then they’re both skilled enough that once they win the ball they keep it for us.
"I don’t know if we’ve been beaten in the midfield this year, and then that makes it easier for the defense. It’s easier to deal with two guys and not six guys coming at you.”
With Naperville Central unable to get through the midfield, the key for Warren and the other defenders was not getting beat by the long ball.
“We just worried about the over and the deep ball,” Warren said. “No matter what, we always made sure we would all have support. It worked out.”
It worked out at both ends of the field for Warren, who was rewarded for his unselfishness with his first game-winning strike.
“He did it all for us today,” Wesley said. “He played great at left back and then to get the game-winner against Naperville Central is a great senior moment.”
But Wesley wasn’t surprised.
“C.J. can do it all,” Wesley said. “We’ve toyed with (playing) him in the back before, and we kind of put him in midfield to maybe try to create a little bit more.
“So we were super confident. Yesterday at practice he said, ‘Can we run some defensive stuff?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t think you need to, we’re good.’”
The Redwings are much better than they were last season, when they finished with nine wins. Warren expected the improvement.
“We all put in the work offseason, and we came prepared for tryouts. We were ready to go as opposed to last year starting 1-6-0,” Warren said. “That was kind of our motivation.
“I think the younger players have been the difference. They all play together well now.
“A lot of them were on the team as freshmen, so they got that one year of varsity experience. They were ready to come into the season and do their thing.”
Starting lineups
Naperville Central
GK Brad Palagi
D Mitch Becker
D Andrew Zain
D Jake Crawford
D Cameron Strang
D Seth Lendzion
M Rokas Burnos
M Owen Jarrell
M Rohan Bhargava
F Roman Krupka
F Finn Wolfe
Benet
GK Hunter Randolph
D C.J. Warren
D Kyle Kohlsaat
D Zach Serafin
D Jonathan Mitra
M Nick Renfro
M Anthony Klos
M Preston Wray
M Joel Wanta
M Hans Haenicke
F Mike Fernandes
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match – C.J. Warren, sr., D, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet – C.J. Warren 28th minute
Second half
None
Senior Warren moves to D, scores game-winner in 1-0 win
By Matt Le Cren
LISLE – Kyle Kohlsaat had a simple explanation when asked Saturday why Benet’s defense has been so dominant lately.
“I think it’s just we’ve all gotten comfortable with each other,” Kohlsaat said. “We’re communicating well, and we’re just having fun out there.”
The fun continued with a 1-0 victory over visiting Naperville Central. It was the fifth-straight win – all via shutout – for the Redwings, who improved to 12-3-1 and have posted 11 shutouts.
The backline of Kohlsaat, fellow senior Jonny Mitra, junior Thomas Miskin and sophomore Zack Serafin has allowed only seven goals this season.
The excellence continued even in the absence of Miskin, who missed Saturday’s game following the death of his grandfather. Into the breach stepped senior midfielder C.J. Warren, who replaced Miskin at left back and scored the only goal of the game.
“I love when C.J. scores goals,” Kohlsaat said. “He’s a great leader. At practice he’s always positive, on and off the field. He’s just a good person.”
Warren was a good candidate to fill in for Miskin.
“I’ve played left back with Kyle in club, so I’m kind of used to it,” Warren said. “But I wasn’t expecting a goal out of it.”
The goal came in the 28th minute on a rocket shot from the top of the box that deflected off a defender and past Naperville Central goalie Brad Palagi. It was the third goal of the season for Warren.
“Jonny threw the ball in,” Warren said. “One of their big center backs headed it back out.
“I just crashed and put it on frame. It took a deflection and went in.”
Naperville Central coach Troy Adams referred to it as an own goal but didn’t blame his defense, which was nearly as stellar as Benet’s.
“(The Redwings) play physical. and they play hard; and they find a way to score,” Adams said. “It was a good own goal.
“It wasn’t one where a guy was facing the wrong way and tried to kick it, and it goes in because those are bad own goals. It was a kid trying to make a play, and it unfortunately went in.”
Adams used the word unfortunately several times in his postgame remarks. That reflected his feelings on a season that is trending in the wrong direction for the Redhawks (5-7-4), who have lost four of their last five games. They have been shut out in three of those losses and six times overall.
This loss was particularly frustrating for Adams because the Redhawks failed to create any quality scoring chances. They had one shot in the second half when Owen Jarrell drove to the left end line in the 66th minute and rolled a centering pass that went through the crease untouched before Anthony Saavedra unloaded a shot that had plenty of pace but was several yards too high
“There wasn’t a lot of sustained quality play,” Adams said. “It was chippy, the ball in the air. Unfortunately that’s not something that benefits us. We need to get the ball on the ground and get it moving.”
The Redhawks, who have yet to win consecutive matches, are running out of time to get moving. They have only one regular season game left before embarking on a tough – and potentially brief – path in the playoffs.
Naperville Central is at the tough Naperville North Regional and would have to beat Neuqua Valley in the semifinals to get to a much-anticipated rematch with top-ranked Naperville North in the final.
“We’ve talked about it enough but we have not played a consistent 80 minutes during the whole year,” Adams said. “We play 20 here, 40 there, 60 here.
“I thought we played Morton outstanding in the second half (of a 2-0 loss on Thursday). We took the first 40 minutes off.
“We can’t sustain it. What that tells me is we’re not really mentally disciplined enough to do what we need to do to win.”
The Redwings, on the other, appear to have no such difficulty. While their offense is not especially potent, they have been winning the midfield battle in addition to playing great defense.
“(The backline) is a great mix,” Benet coach Sean Wesley said. “Kyle is big and strong and has done it before, has all that experience and then you pair him with a guy like Zach, who is an up-and-comer, he had his best game of the year today.
“Tom is an underclassman but started every game for us last year. And then Jonny is that senior leader who wants to get the ball, wants to keep it for us, wants to play big passes out of the back.”
Naperville Central was unable to solve that problem, but they are not alone. Yet the problem for Benet’s opponents runs deeper.
“I thought a lot about why we make things difficult for people,” Wesley said. “Our backline is really good, but I also think Anthony Klos and Nick Renfro in the midfield just make it so difficult for other teams to come out (of their zone).
“So they never build into their offense, because those two guys are just tireless workers on defense. Then they’re both skilled enough that once they win the ball they keep it for us.
"I don’t know if we’ve been beaten in the midfield this year, and then that makes it easier for the defense. It’s easier to deal with two guys and not six guys coming at you.”
With Naperville Central unable to get through the midfield, the key for Warren and the other defenders was not getting beat by the long ball.
“We just worried about the over and the deep ball,” Warren said. “No matter what, we always made sure we would all have support. It worked out.”
It worked out at both ends of the field for Warren, who was rewarded for his unselfishness with his first game-winning strike.
“He did it all for us today,” Wesley said. “He played great at left back and then to get the game-winner against Naperville Central is a great senior moment.”
But Wesley wasn’t surprised.
“C.J. can do it all,” Wesley said. “We’ve toyed with (playing) him in the back before, and we kind of put him in midfield to maybe try to create a little bit more.
“So we were super confident. Yesterday at practice he said, ‘Can we run some defensive stuff?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t think you need to, we’re good.’”
The Redwings are much better than they were last season, when they finished with nine wins. Warren expected the improvement.
“We all put in the work offseason, and we came prepared for tryouts. We were ready to go as opposed to last year starting 1-6-0,” Warren said. “That was kind of our motivation.
“I think the younger players have been the difference. They all play together well now.
“A lot of them were on the team as freshmen, so they got that one year of varsity experience. They were ready to come into the season and do their thing.”
Starting lineups
Naperville Central
GK Brad Palagi
D Mitch Becker
D Andrew Zain
D Jake Crawford
D Cameron Strang
D Seth Lendzion
M Rokas Burnos
M Owen Jarrell
M Rohan Bhargava
F Roman Krupka
F Finn Wolfe
Benet
GK Hunter Randolph
D C.J. Warren
D Kyle Kohlsaat
D Zach Serafin
D Jonathan Mitra
M Nick Renfro
M Anthony Klos
M Preston Wray
M Joel Wanta
M Hans Haenicke
F Mike Fernandes
Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match – C.J. Warren, sr., D, Benet
Scoring summary
First half
Benet – C.J. Warren 28th minute
Second half
None