Girls soccer: Benet stays unbeaten, hands St. Viator first loss in key ESCC matchup
Benet Academy seized control of the East Suburban Catholic Conference race following its 3-2 victory Tuesday afternoon over St. Viator in Lisle.
Three first-half goals were enough to secure this important win, and move the Redwings to a perfect 11-0, and 5-0 in league play, while dropping the Lions to 4-1-2, 3-1-0.
"We played a very good first half of soccer — could have had maybe another one or two more goals (but) our play kind of dropped off in the second half, and St. Viator, which is a very good team, was able to put two goals in on us," said Benet’s Megan Bergman.
The junior, along with teammates Sophia Duncan and Ashley Polanco ,were terrific in the middle of the park to keep the visitors at bay, while the home side was dynamic in their attack.
Preslie Petersen, outstanding up top all afternoon, scored the opener in the fifth minute when she redirected into the back of the net after an Ivana Vukas blast rattled the bar — and spilled to the ever present Petersen.
Lions keeper Judy Saji, who made two goal-saving stops on both sides of the half, turned around a Petersen effort, then Vukas, but the sophomore was unable to stop Polanco in the 26th minute after a well executed build-up.
Another wicked smash off the bar, this one from Chloe Reifsnyder, led to the third goal of the half with Audrey Eiseman steering in her close-range effort off the rebound.
It could have been 4-0 heading into the intermission if not for a point-blank save from Saji on Annie Fitzgerald in the 40th minute.
"(We) didn't not play as well as we needed to in the first half, but I thought we did a good job of getting ourselves organized and more focused in the second half, and it would show in how much more better we played in the last 40 minutes of the game," said St. Viator’s Frannie Drake.
The Lions junior was a key figure in the Lions’ inspired revival, along with Kalin McCrea and Camila Fuentes.
Maggie Drake would pull one back in the 45th minute when she buried her spot-kick after a foul inside the box.
Plenty of pressure from the visitors keep the Benet attack from finding any rhythm — except for an opportunity at 64 minutes when Saji stopped Fitzgerald, who was sent through by Vukas.
Fuentes had a deft touch in the 80th minute when she chipped keeper Giada McGlynn.
"It was kind of game of two halves. We played so well in the first half, but our decision making, passing, and communication was not as good as it should have been (in the second half)," said Vukas. "(But) this was a big win over a very good team to help get us closer to another conference championship."
The Redwings, who are 13-time ESCC champions, will play Oswego East on Thursday in their Naperville Invite opener, then Barrington on Saturday as tournament play continues.
Next up for the Lions will be Lake Zurich at the Welk Invite on Friday at host Prospect.