Benet sweeps past York in second half

Playing during spring break presents all sorts of challenges and made things difficult for York and Benet during Tuesday's morning girls soccer game at Benedictine University in Lisle.

The Dukes started strong but stalled. The Redwings started slowly but turned it on.

The visiting Dukes struck first, getting a goal from Emily Aylesworth in the opening three minutes, but they didn't score again. The Redwings scored three times in the second half to earn a 3-1 victory.

"We were in the game. They might've outshot us, but we were also missing some players, but that's where we're at for spring break 2017," York coach Don Vana said. "They were much faster than us in the back end and were able to beat us around the corner. It was like chess. You beat one piece and the next piece has to step in and it opens something else up and they figured that out pretty fast and did it well."

Benet (2-1-0) tied the game at 1-1 with 29:27 remaining after Erin Flynn was taken down in the box and Katie Gesior hammered home the penalty kick.

Gesior later pushed the Redwings in front at 2-1 with her goal that was set up by Nicole Burns.

Before the Dukes even knew what hit them, the Redhawks scored again. Kate Flynn and Elizabeth Keefe connected to break the game open.

"Kate found my feet perfectly and I just had to place it in so it was easy on my part," Keefe said. "We were very sloppy overall. In the second half we started playing quick and smart in finding each other's feet and that's when we found our teammates and played at our best."

Regardless of the strong finish, Benet was displeased with such a slow start, and also recognized that they're not always going to be able to rebound in such strong fashion.

"We did not play well in the first half. We were slow and we were not connecting our passes and we need to do better than that," Keefe said. "After the penalty kick we got some rhythm going, which was nice."

That proved to inspire the Redwings. The Dukes weren't able to create many of their own scoring chances.

"We had plenty of chances in the first half but didn't do anything with them," Benet coach Gerard Oconer said. "Once we got inside that 18, though, the final product just wasn't there, so we knew if we kept going in the second half eventually something would go in because we were kind of due."