Boys soccer: Benet defense continues to stand out

Two headers are sometimes better than one.

Benet used the combined talents of T.J. McVey, Michael Rocco and Nick Augustyn to turn McVey's initial feed into a goal and it proved to be all the Redwings needed during Tuesday's Class 2A Burlington Central sectional semifinal.

Augustyn buried the header and then added a highlight-reel worthy goal just before the halftime as Benet was dominant in a 2-0 victory over Sycamore.

Benet (15-1-2) advances to Friday's sectional championship against Lemont.

"(Sycamore) was really good," Benet coach Sean Wesley said. "They were really organized and run a good system that wasn't something we'd really seen. It overloads to the sides and it kind of took us off guard a little bit at the beginning, though our defense played good and they figured it out on their own."

Augustyn scored quickly on a ball that Rocco had headed toward him with 17:52 remaining in the first half for the 1-0 lead.

There was no doubt that Augustyn put his next shot in the right spot, and with his left foot mind you, with 2:40 remaining before halftime.

"It was special," Sycamore coach David Bachta said. "Kid just turned and hit it as good as you can hit it."

From about 30 yards away Augustyn fired in a missile to the far right corner, unreachable for Sycamore goalkeeper Jaycob Sears and just underneath the crossbar.

"It was good," Augustyn said, explaining that he hit a similar shot against Nazareth about three years ago. "We like to come out strong. We've had trouble closing out games, but we've been really good at coming out strong."

The naturally right-footed Augustyn took a pass from Nolan Martini and hammered the shot home with his left foot, which basically makes him an ambidextrous threat. That didn't happen overnight, but the talent's there now and he's thrilled to show it.

"When I was maybe 12, I tried out for the Fire Academy and they told me that I didn't make the team because I wasn't creative enough and I couldn't use both feet," he said. "After that I've had to prove him wrong."

Did he ever.

Sycamore (16-8-1) was the latest victim to get blanked by a Benet team that still has only allowed four goals all season in 20 games.

"We've very confident in our defense, we're all very close and we always communicate," Benet senior defender Thomas Miskin said. "We pride ourselves on it. We're always passing people on and with a lot of movement up top, we're always locked in for every second of the game and we stay locked in."

The Redwings had opportunities to break the game open in the second half, but the Spartans did everything they could to keep the game close and denied all their chances.

"We probably let them off the hook and had a few chances where maybe we could've put the game away," Wesley said. "But we kept up the pressure and played in their half a little bit and saw the game out really well."

Vyto Staniskis made 3 saves in goal as Benet recorded its 17th shutout.