Benet able to finish Wheaton Academy

Benet's soccer team has been having trouble finishing scoring opportunities early this season, but so far, it hasn't hurt the Redwings too badly.

Hosting Wheaton Academy in Lisle on Monday night, Benet finished on its first quality scoring chance, taking a 1-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game en route to dispatching Wheaton Academy 2-0.

Benet's Kelly Diedrich found herself in the right place at the right time, as the sophomore midfielder snuck one in just 3:41 into the game. Wheaton Academy goalkeeper Emily Mulder dived to her right to deny an initial attempt from Benet's Katie Kaufmann, but lost her grip on the ball as she connected with the ground. The ball trickled right to Diedrich, who knocked it home for the early lead.

"It was right off a corner (kick), and Katie Kaufmann had a great shot," Diedrich said. "I was right there, right in the position, and I just got the rebound and hit it in."

After Diedrich's score, the Redwings (6-2-1) began taking control, keeping the ball in Wheaton Academy's end for much of the game.

"The only thing that we're lacking is the final finishing," Benet coach Henry Wind said. "We're getting in attack mode and we're doing some good things.

"We had some other opportunities in the first half. When we're switching the ball from one side back to the weak side, we're very dangerous. Now you've got to finish."

The Redwings could have gone up by 2 goals if not for Mulder's athleticism in front of the net. The junior goalkeeper stopped three rapid, consecutive attempts to keep the deficit at one.

Still, Diedrich's early goal seemed to rattle the Warriors (7-3-1), knocking them out of focus for a significant portion of the first half.

"Once we gave up that goal, it kind of put us on our heels a little bit," Wheaton Academy coach Scott Marksberry said. "We had a couple folks out of position tonight - but the girls adjusted well.

"After the first goal that we gave up, we kind of settled into our game a little bit. It took us about 10 minutes after that goal."

Wheaton Academy struggled to mount any consistent offense against the Redwings, despite focusing mainly on its own attack heading into the game.

"We didn't actually come in with a defensive game plan," Marksberry said. "We were just really trying to work on our possessions."