Boys soccer: Serafin goal starts Benet celebration
Benet junior Zach Serafin found himself in an unfamiliar situation.
"I didn't know what to do," Serafin said of scoring his first Benet goal Friday in his third varsity boys soccer season. "I kind of just stood there and I was obviously very excited, honestly."
As a central defender, Serafin doesn't find himself in position to score often. There was no reason for him to consider how he might celebrate.
"I just ran to the outside and everyone came around. It was actually a great feeling, honestly. Everyone was like, go to the crowd, do this, do this. It didn't really set in that I scored till I got back to my own side," he said of the 18th-minute goal, the Redwings' first in a 4-0 victory against Lemont on Friday at Romeoville.
"We kind of make fun of it because he's obviously a center back and he's a big kid and he's a great player and he's played really good for us, but yeah, no, we're not really counting on him to score goals," Benet coach Sean Wesley said after his team won a Class 2A sectional championship game moved from Burlington Central. "And then when he does it's just amazing. And a great way for us to break the ice. There's a lot of anxiety, a lot of pressure and stuff like this."
The Redwings (18-1-2) advanced to play Peoria Notre Dame at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Sterling supersectional.
The way the Redwings defend, Serafin's goal was all Benet needed. The Redwings still have allowed just 4 goals all season and have outscored their first four playoff opponents 14-0.
"I just think we have great team chemistry," Serafin said. "I hang out with the guys all the time and we communicate well. We always have pressure covered. We're always balanced. And we always know where everyone's going to be because we've played with each other for two years now and it just works well."
The defense finished the shutout without Serafin, who left the game in the 35th minute with an ankle injury. He expects to be available Tuesday.
T.J. McVey gave Benet a 2-0 lead just seconds after Serafin left. Refusing to let a Lemont defender escort the ball over the end line for a goal kick, he won the ball and went in against the Lemont goalkeeper 1v1 for the goal.
The score went to 3-0 in the 42nd minute on a play started by a beautiful no-look pass from Sam Hepburn to Chris Mankowski. Mankowski's cross found Hans Haenicke for the goal.
Michael Fernandes finished the scoring in the 63rd minute with a tap-in goal after a Nick Augustyn free kick from 30 yards bounced to him a couple of yards in front of the net with the goalkeeper out of position.
"For him to get one like that was special and I think everyone loved watching it," Wesley said of Fernandes, one of the dozen substitutes the Redwings used.