Boys soccer: Neuqua Valley fights back to tie Benet

Draws are a natural part of a soccer season, and they sure beat losses.

While they happen, they don't necessarily mean that the teams played at the same level for 80 minutes.

Benet and Neuqua Valley battled to an exciting 3-3 draw in nonconference play on Thursday in Naperville, but if you asked the Wildcats, who rallied from a 3-1 deficit, it was almost as if they left the pitch victorious. As for the Redwings, they probably felt like they let one slip away.

"It felt like a 'W,'" Wildcats coach Arnoldo Gonzalez said. "We talked about working as a team, because I think that was one of the things that was lacking. The skill was there, the fight was there, but individually, not as a team."

Neuqua Valley (5-4-1) struck first, getting a goal from Joshua Kolzow, his third on the season, with 31:43 left in the opening half.

"The ball got played through and I just played a touch," Kolzow said. "I put it to my left and hit it and it felt good."

Benet (5-1-2) responded, knotting things up at 23:52 left in the first half and then taking the lead with 1:47 left, both on goals from senior Ben Kelly.

"I got a nice pass on the second goal and got the ball under my foot," he said. "Luckily Connor Mote backed me up and fought for the ball in the middle and it came out and I was able to take a swing at it and get the goal."

Sophomore Franklin Rutkowski extended Benet's lead with 30:53 remaining in the second half, but the Redwings could not hold their lead.

"I think we let up a little and they took advantage of that," Kelly said. "That's very disheartening that this is the result we got based on how well we were doing in the middle of the game."

William Heniades pulled the Wildcats to within 3-2 with 22:52 left in the second half on a pass from Antonio Magno. Then his header off a pass from Calum Nettleton with 2:55 remaining tied things up.

Neuqua Valley created a couple of final scoring chances that nearly netted the game-winner but came up short-handed while also not allowing Benet any opportunities to win the game.

"That says a lot about our fight," Kolzow said. "We made a lot of mistakes, but we're working on those and we're always fighting."