Girls soccer: Benet slows Metea Valley's roll

Metea Valley was flying high and Benet down in the dumps.

Then Katie Gesior changed things up.

Gesior scored on a 35-yard free kick just 58 seconds into the game for the host Redwings and Metea Valley spent the rest of the game scratching and clawing to get back in it.

Sophia Majher finally broke through with a goal with 10:11 to go in the second half as the Mustangs salvaged a 1-1 tie in Lisle.

Metea came into the nonconference match on a roll, having gone 9-1-1 in its last 11 games. Benet, meanwhile, was coming off one of the worst losses in program history, a 6-1 defeat at Lyons Twp. on Saturday.

But Gesior, who sat out Saturday's game with a minor ankle injury, gave the Redwings a boost with her rocket into the upper right corner of the net.

"I saw I was in shooting range," Gesior said. "I was hoping to aim far post top corner.

"I thought it was going out because of the spin and I was just ready to accept it and work hard to win it back again. But then it went in.

"It was a lucky bounce for us. We needed a lucky bounce to get us going."

The Redwings (11-6-1), who spent much of the match working on their possession game, barely missed extending the lead, but Maddie Becker's shot hit the outside of the left post with 45 seconds left in the half.

"We had a lot of good possession today," Gesior said. "Coaches at the beginning of the game told us to possess instead of kicking and chasing and making our forwards make 30-yard runs down the line.

"So we worked on combination plays and passing it back and forth to switch the field."

The Mustangs (12-3-4) spent much of the match chasing the action, though they were dangerous when they were on the ball.

Benet goalie Anna Keefe had to make 8 saves, including a point-blank stop on Metea start Jade Eriksen-Russo midway through the first half. Keefe gave up a rebound on that play, but freshman defender Kate Flynn went to the ground to block the drive by Kiley McKee.

The Mustangs, who rested star midfielder Nicki Hernandez, finally got the equalizer when Majher broke into the left side of the box, won a challenge from Keefe and lofted a 12-yard shot inside the far post.

"Benet really brought it to us," Metea defender MaKenna Schoolman said. "It seemed at the beginning that they wanted it more than us, and that was a problem.

"So at halftime we had to make sure we were all playing together. The second half was much better."

Metea coach Chris Whaley was pleased to see the comeback.

"We had a hard time defending today," Whaley said. "(Benet) played very well all over the field.

"It was obvious that they were very comfortable and we weren't very comfortable today playing our game. But we did fight back."