Benet beats WW South on PKs
That Wednesday’s Class 3A Neuqua Valley regional semifinal between the Benet and Wheaton Warrenville South girls soccer teams went the maximum amount of time surprised no one on either squad.
The Redwings and the Tigers had been down this road earlier this season. Late last month, WW South had prvailed in a shootout over Benet in the Naperville Invitational.
This time, though, it was Benet (18-4-3) savoring a tough win as it prevailed 3-2 in penalty kicks to defeat the Tigers after regulation and four overtime periods ended 1-1. The Redwings, seeded eighth in the Waubonsie Valley sectional, return to Neuqua Valley at 4:30 p.m. Friday for a regional final showdown against the top-seeded hosts.
WW South, seeded ninth, ends the season at 11-8-2.
“I just tried to stay calm and react,” Redwings goalkeeper Claire Munaretto said of the game going to a shootout. “I let all five penalty kicks in the last time and I wasn’t going to do that again.”
WW South’s Laine Jackson started the shootout and Munaretto made a save on her. Kelly Diedrich then hit net on Tigers goalkeeper Arianna Lee. Dana Miller then scored followed by Benet’s Amanda Kaiser. Hayley Charlton converted. That turned out to be the Tigers’ last successful PK.
Lee made a diving save on Brittany Pullen, but Madie Burke made good on Benet’s next attempt and the Redwings were on their way to the regional final.
The shootout was proceeded by a wild end to the fourth overtime period.
With just 2.8 seconds left, Miller got on a breakaway and collided with Munaretto, who came out to meet her. Miller went airborne and landed hard. She was lying on the field for a couple of minutes but walked off under her own power and later returned to the game.
Munaretto received a yellow card on the play and had to leave the game for the remainder of the period. Freshman goakeeper Christina Stopka unexpectedly found herself suddenly in an OT postseason game.
“We had a lot of faith in her. I know she was nervous and glad (a 20-yard free kick by WW South after the yellow card) was hit over the net,” Benet coach Henry Wind said.
Benet almost put it away early in the final OT period as Lexie Liber scored just 42 seconds into it, but the play was ruled offsides.
After a scoreless first half the Tigers came out strong and controlled play for a good portion of the game’s final 40 minutes of regulation time. WW South took a 1-0 advantage with 27:02 left when Mary Heaton took a shot from 15 yards out after taking a cross pass from Katherine Fowee.
As the second half went on, the Redwings increased their pressure on the Tigers defense. But time and their season were quickly running out.
The Redwings got a reprieve on that season, with just 1:49 left, when Pullen scored after some excellent pressure right in front of the Tigers net. She grabbed a rebound after Lee had made a save on Katie Michalik.
“It was now or never. We had worked too hard to see our season end like that,” Pullen said.
Benet faced a tough challenge from the Tigers. It obviously goes up a couple of notches against undefeated Neuqua Valley (22-0).
“Neuqua is an outstanding team. We’ll give it what we got and see what happens,” Wind said. “This feels real good. I felt the girls deserved this. Wheaton Warrenville South is an outstanding program. But I liked our passion, our decision-making, our discipline and the way we moved the ball around.”
As for Wheaton Warrenville South, coach Guy Callipari praised his team for their effort in the 2011 season.
“They were uplifting. They had a ‘yes we can’ attitude and gave it their all to the end,” he said.