Notebook: Benet
By Matt Le Cren
On paper, it would appear Benet is a year away from peaking.
With only six seniors on the roster, the Redwings are still a young team in a building phase that began two years ago. But appearances can be deceiving.
Benet is a legitimate contender to win the Class AA state championship.
The Redwings (14-2-1) are on the verge of recording their best regular season ever. Victories over Nazareth on Saturday and Carmel on Tuesday will give the Redwings the East Suburban Catholic Conference championship; and a defeat of Hinsdale Central in Thursday’s regular season finale will pull them within one win of tying the program record for victories. The mark of 18 was set in 2007 and equaled in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
None of this is surprising to Benet coach Gerard Oconer.
“We knew that we were going to be good this year,” Oconer said. “Always the question mark was going to be, when we are playing against teams that defend really well, can we get that one or two (goals)? Because we don’t quite have that big-time, 25-goal scorer.
“We’re so solid everywhere else.”
Indeed, the Redwings, like many teams, do not have a dominant striker. But neither do they have a glaring weakness. The biggest question mark was goalkeeper, but junior Eva Frantzen has thrived behind a great defense led by seniors Clare Bumpus and Lauren Fischer, junior Mary Kate Hansen and sophomore Kate Flynn.
The midfield and forward corps is young, yet talented with sophomores Mia Tommasone, Sarah Bozych and Cami Picha coming into their own and junior veterans Abby Casmere, Nicole Burns and Mia Ullmer coming up big in key situations.
Add in the leadership of seniors Erin Flynn, Maddie Becker and Jackie Schuman and you have a recipe for success.
“I think we’re really hungry this year,” Burns said. “We’ve been close, and we’ve felt like we can win state each of these past few years. This year we’re really motivated to do it for our seniors.”
The senior class is headlined by the fleet-footed Flynn, a Washington University recruit and four-year starter who leads the team in goals (6) and assists (11).
Despite missing two games with an injury, she has tripled her goal total from last season and posted a third-straight season leding Benet in assists.
“She is always so dangerous and always sets people up,” Oconer said. “She just couldn’t quite find that scoring touch (last year), and this year I think she’s starting to figure it out, especially in the last few games.”
Flynn, who scored 34 on her ACT and plans to major in engineering, said the Redwings have been using their brains just as much as their physical talent in their climb this season.
“As a team we’ve definitely been focusing on the mental aspect of the game because physically we’re all really good players. But mentally we just have to learn how to play together,” Flynn said. “That has really helped.”
In fact, the lack of a true scorer has been mirrored by the lack of egos on the team. The Redwings are greater than the sum of their parts.
“I think the key this year is we’ve been very selfless,” Casmere said. “As a team we’ve been working together.
“I think this is the closest team that I’ve ever been on. We’re all so close, and we all trust each other on the field. That’s important.”
That has helped the Redwings deal with a few injuries and the rare disappointment. Their only losses were 1-0 to Deerfield in the second game of the season, a match in which they controlled the run of play, and a 7-0 shorthanded drubbing at the hands of Neuqua Valley at the Naperville Invitational.
The latter was a wakeup call for the Redwings, who played without four starters, including Erin Flynn and Frantzen.
“I think it was a good game to motivate us and know that that is not the team we are,” Casmere said. “We definitely have more potential than that, so I think we’ve shown it in the last few games.
“We were missing the offensive scoring power, and we were having difficulty with that so we just had the mindset to just keep trying.”
The Redwings have been impressive since then, posting a 6-0-1 mark. Five different players have scored game-winning goals in that span, during which opponents have mustered only one goal.
Benet enters the state playoffs as the no. 1 seed at the Hinsdale South Sectional. The Redwings have quality wins over Class 3A teams St. Charles East, Wheaton Warrenville South, Conant and Lyons, and a 3-1 victory over defending Class 2A state runner-up Wheaton Academy, another no. 1 sectional seed and possible supersectional opponent.
By Matt Le Cren
On paper, it would appear Benet is a year away from peaking.
With only six seniors on the roster, the Redwings are still a young team in a building phase that began two years ago. But appearances can be deceiving.
Benet is a legitimate contender to win the Class AA state championship.
The Redwings (14-2-1) are on the verge of recording their best regular season ever. Victories over Nazareth on Saturday and Carmel on Tuesday will give the Redwings the East Suburban Catholic Conference championship; and a defeat of Hinsdale Central in Thursday’s regular season finale will pull them within one win of tying the program record for victories. The mark of 18 was set in 2007 and equaled in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
None of this is surprising to Benet coach Gerard Oconer.
“We knew that we were going to be good this year,” Oconer said. “Always the question mark was going to be, when we are playing against teams that defend really well, can we get that one or two (goals)? Because we don’t quite have that big-time, 25-goal scorer.
“We’re so solid everywhere else.”
Indeed, the Redwings, like many teams, do not have a dominant striker. But neither do they have a glaring weakness. The biggest question mark was goalkeeper, but junior Eva Frantzen has thrived behind a great defense led by seniors Clare Bumpus and Lauren Fischer, junior Mary Kate Hansen and sophomore Kate Flynn.
The midfield and forward corps is young, yet talented with sophomores Mia Tommasone, Sarah Bozych and Cami Picha coming into their own and junior veterans Abby Casmere, Nicole Burns and Mia Ullmer coming up big in key situations.
Add in the leadership of seniors Erin Flynn, Maddie Becker and Jackie Schuman and you have a recipe for success.
“I think we’re really hungry this year,” Burns said. “We’ve been close, and we’ve felt like we can win state each of these past few years. This year we’re really motivated to do it for our seniors.”
The senior class is headlined by the fleet-footed Flynn, a Washington University recruit and four-year starter who leads the team in goals (6) and assists (11).
Despite missing two games with an injury, she has tripled her goal total from last season and posted a third-straight season leding Benet in assists.
“She is always so dangerous and always sets people up,” Oconer said. “She just couldn’t quite find that scoring touch (last year), and this year I think she’s starting to figure it out, especially in the last few games.”
Flynn, who scored 34 on her ACT and plans to major in engineering, said the Redwings have been using their brains just as much as their physical talent in their climb this season.
“As a team we’ve definitely been focusing on the mental aspect of the game because physically we’re all really good players. But mentally we just have to learn how to play together,” Flynn said. “That has really helped.”
In fact, the lack of a true scorer has been mirrored by the lack of egos on the team. The Redwings are greater than the sum of their parts.
“I think the key this year is we’ve been very selfless,” Casmere said. “As a team we’ve been working together.
“I think this is the closest team that I’ve ever been on. We’re all so close, and we all trust each other on the field. That’s important.”
That has helped the Redwings deal with a few injuries and the rare disappointment. Their only losses were 1-0 to Deerfield in the second game of the season, a match in which they controlled the run of play, and a 7-0 shorthanded drubbing at the hands of Neuqua Valley at the Naperville Invitational.
The latter was a wakeup call for the Redwings, who played without four starters, including Erin Flynn and Frantzen.
“I think it was a good game to motivate us and know that that is not the team we are,” Casmere said. “We definitely have more potential than that, so I think we’ve shown it in the last few games.
“We were missing the offensive scoring power, and we were having difficulty with that so we just had the mindset to just keep trying.”
The Redwings have been impressive since then, posting a 6-0-1 mark. Five different players have scored game-winning goals in that span, during which opponents have mustered only one goal.
Benet enters the state playoffs as the no. 1 seed at the Hinsdale South Sectional. The Redwings have quality wins over Class 3A teams St. Charles East, Wheaton Warrenville South, Conant and Lyons, and a 3-1 victory over defending Class 2A state runner-up Wheaton Academy, another no. 1 sectional seed and possible supersectional opponent.