Waubonsie Valley breaks through

Waubonsie Valley threw everything it had at Benet's Claire Munaretto, and for awhile it looked like she would be able to lead Benet to an upset victory over the Warriors in the regional championship Friday night at Waubonsie Valley.

However, the Warriors were able to finally break through as they put up two goals in a five-minute span halfway through the second half to lock up their regional with a 3-0 victory.

Midfielder Chelsea Stoeckigt scored the first goal and eventual game-winner on a great feed from Rachele Armand in the 25th minute to finally get one past Munaretto.

"Rachele brought it down to the corner to the end line then crossed it and I just placed it in," Stoeckigt said. "They defended us well, but it just took time for us to click and find ways to get around their defense."

Finally solving Munaretto gave Waubonsie Valley (18-1-4) a boost of confidence as it continued to carry the play and was rewarded again five minutes later as Armand found midfielder Hannah Klancic for the Warriors second tally.

"The first half we kind of shut them down and played good defense," Munaretto said. "We made them take some off-balance shots and it worked. The second half we kind of slowed down. They got to the corners and were able to cross it and they had some great redirects."

The Warriors tacked on a final goal with just under three minutes left as Vanessa DiBernardo set up Megan Green to finish off the scoring.

Benet (16-6) did make a bit of a push to open the second half, but the Warrirors appeared to get sharper as the game went on and their ball-possession game ultimately choked the life out of the Redwings' attack.

"They controlled 75 percent of the game," Benet coach Henry Wind said. "We knew what was coming and we were hoping to get one or two good chances and put one in. Claire made some pretty big saves as well."

Munaretto made some acrobatic saves, none bigger than a dive across the net to just get enough of the ball to tip it on top of the net to keep the game scoreless.

"I thought that one save Claire made was incredible," Wind said. "If she wouldn't have tipped that over the net it would've snuck underneath the crossbar."

However, in spite of Munaretto's heroics, it is the Warriors who move on to sectional semifinals Tuesday.

"We just need to take it one step at a time and put our best foot forward," Stoeckigt said.