Rindler helps Benet earn draw at W. Chicago

Michael Rindler scored a hat trick during Monday’s nonconference game at West Chicago.

Benet definitely needed Rindler’s effort, especially his third goal of the night — an equalizer with 2:43 remaining — to earn a hard-fought 3-3 draw.

“I’m glad our team responded and was able to come back and tie it,” Rindler said. “But we had lots of chances and could easily have won that game too.”

Rindler put Benet (9-1-1) ahead at the 33:15 mark of the first half on a header set up on a corner kick from fellow senior Sam Knapke.

The Wildcats responded, though, as freshman Eduardo Suarez scored just a little more than a minute later to make it 1-1 before junior Oswaldo Estrada blasted a 30-yard bomb just inside the post to give the hosts a 2-1 advantage.

“We came out strong,” Estrada said. “They thought we were going to go hard. They scored, then we scored two on them and then they came back and then we scored one and unfortunately they scored one on us.”

It was that kind of a back-and-forth battle that made the match interesting and certainly kept the defenders and keepers on their toes.

“We did not start well, as anybody who watched the game saw,” Benet coach Sean Wesley said. “We didn’t play well the entire game. Maybe we had 20 minutes of great soccer coming (into the second half) and looked more like the team we are, but that said, we didn’t get a goal in those 20 minutes.”

After the Redwings repeatedly came up empty in the second half, the Wildcats began controlling possession and creating their fair share of good scoring chances. Such an attack culminated in Jerry Medina netting his first goal of the season with 14:16 remaining.

“This was a great game from everybody,” Medina said. “We had some problems at the beginning of the season, but I think we’ve picked it up. We’re now passing the ball fast and players are moving up top and looking pretty good.”

West Chicago coach Jose Villa had to share some bad news with his team before the match. Due to using an ineligible player earlier this fall, the team had to forfeit its previous victories, dropping its 4-6-2 record to 0-10-2.

“I thought we had a great response to maybe giving them the news an hour or an hour and half before,” Villa said. “We talked about how they’re disappointed but that they can’t do anything about it and can just go forward and I thought we did today.”

Konrad Bayer had 11 saves for Benet.