Neuqua Valley finishes well
Benet's George Elliott, left, and Neuqua Valley's Asa Carson battle for the soccer ball in the Wildcats' 4-1 win Tuesday.
Neuqua Valley's boys soccer team is all about finishing.
On Tuesday the Wildcats took advantage of several Benet defensive lapses and went home with a 4-1 victory to move into Thursday's Class AA Neuqua Valley sectional final.
"We put the balls away when we had the opportunity," said striker Jaymie Bullard, who scored 2 of the Wildcats' goals. "They ran the possession at the beginning, but we came out firing later in the first half and in the second half."
The Redwings (9-11-1), who were seeded fourth in the sectional, moved the ball well but didn't create scoring chances, as the No. 1-seeded Wildcats' back line held tough.
"We played well in the first half, but we kept looking for that one more touch to get it closer," said Benet coach Henry Wind, "where Neuqua would just go in and bury it."
It took the Wildcats (20-1-4) almost 30 minutes to score, when Bryan Gaul put the ball through the wall on a free kick into the lower left-hand corner of the net.
The second goal came in the 35th minute when Robby Gargaro put a free kick into the area from distance that bounced off several players to Bullard, who netted it to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead at the intermission.
"They played exactly the way we thought they would play," Wind said. "They played direct and wait for you to make a mistake. They keep everything simple. They don't play around a lot. When they get the ball they go forward and they strike immediately."
The next Neuqua Valley strike came first in the 50th minute when Bret Hruby outran Benet goalkeeper Bryan Steigel to a ball that was passed into space and put it in from 18 yards away.
Then Bullard capped the Wildcats' scoring when he headed Gaul's corner kick into the net for his second goal of the night.
"Bryan gave me a great ball for that fourth goal," Bullard said. "It was a great victory because we lost to them earlier in the year on penalty kicks."
Two minutes later Erik Warren found the back of the net for Benet's only score of the game.
"We were pretty solid," said Neuqua Valley coach Jim Johns. "Benet is always an attacking team and they put a lot of pressure on you. We had good shape the whole game and we didn't make any mistakes in the back. We covered for each other very well today. It was a collective effort by the team."
The Wildcats will face Naperville at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the sectional final.
"This is a difficult sectional with a killer group of teams," Johns said. "We're tickled to death to be in the finals. All you want to do is survive. You don't even care how you win."
Gaul had another view of the victory.
"We're not smiling until we see ourselves in the state final," he said.