Girls soccer: Philips helps Naperville Central reach invite quarterfinals

Emma Philips usually doesn't hit balls with the side of her head, but she unintentionally made an exception Saturday.

It proved to be the temple of doom for Benet.

Philips notched her second varsity goal in unusual fashion in the first half, and Meredith McGuire added a big insurance goal in the second half to lead host Naperville Central to a 2-0 win over Benet at Memorial Stadium.

The Redhawks (8-5) advanced to the quarterfinals of the Naperville Invitational and will host Barrington on Thursday.

"We're really excited," Philips said. "(Getting to the quarterfinals) is really important because not only is winning fun, but obviously it is our tournament, so we want to win the whole thing. To have it under our belts would be really nice."

Philips, a junior forward, gave the Redhawks the only offense they would need when she got under a cross from Meridith Hannan and used the side of her head to nod the ball toward the goal from the top of the penalty area.

The ball floated in an arc over the head of Benet goalkeeper Anna Keefe, who made a great effort to tip the ball into the underside of the crossbar but couldn't stop it from going in at the 30:32 mark of the first half.

"I actually had my side to the goal and (the ball) kind of hit (my temple), which is really unnatural for me because I usually do it with (my forehead)," Philips said. "But it was just perfect timing and an awesome cross in."

Though the run of play was fairly even, Philips' goal put the Redwings (7-5) in a tough spot. They are struggling offensively and have lost three straight.

"If I were asked I'd say that high balls are my main weakness," Keefe said. "I was there, I just didn't hit hard enough.

"I need to punch it over or pop it up, but I think I should have gotten it. But with the wind, it was a hard one to judge and then it sort of floated."

Philips, a varsity rookie, was floating on air after the goal.

"That felt really good," Philips said. "I thought it might have gone over because that tends to happen with my headers and then I saw the goalie bumped and I was like, 'dang it.' Then when it went over her head I was like, 'Yeah!'"

For Benet coach Gerard Oconer, it was an "oh, no" moment.

"Any time against Naperville Central you go down 1-0 on a fluke goal, it's an uphill battle," Oconer said. "For the most part, the run of play was relatively even, especially in the second half.

"They obviously were very aggressive defensively and made it tough for us to get any kind of rhythm going offensively."

The Redwings nearly scored a fluke goal of their own when Naperville Central goalkeeper Kinzly Dressler took a bad-hop shot off the face and Benet's Maddie Becker took control of the ball. But Becker's shot at the open net was deflected wide by defender Sarah Avery with 22:25 left in the second half.

Three minutes later, McGuire scored on a breakaway off a feed from Madison Redeker and the Redhawks were on their way to their third straight win.