WW South ends 3-game skid vs. Benet

The Wheaton Warrenville South girls soccer team didn’t score a goal in regulation for the third consecutive game on Wednesday night, but the Tigers scored when it mattered most to break a three-game losing streak.

The Tigers beat Benet in a shootout at Wheaton North’s Rexilius Field in their first game in the Naperville Invitational after ending regulation and 20 minutes of overtime scoreless.

“It was a huge thing to win for us because we’ve lost a few games where we had the opportunity to win,” Tigers goalkeeper Kelsey Graham said. “We came together tonight and were relentless in this game. We changed mentally and knew we had to win this game to progress.”

After watching four of her teammates convert their shot attempts in the shootout, while Benet missed one of its first four, Wheaton Warrenville South senior Hayley Charlton knew the pressure was on her. Make the shot and the Tigers win; miss it and the Redwings would still be alive.

“You go up there knowing the keeper has been good all game and wonder what she’s going to do now,” Charlton said. “It was nerve-wracking, but once I got up there I just focused and the nervousness melted away.”

Charlton’s shot eluded Benet goalkeeper Claire Munaretto to seal the victory for the Tigers. They won the shootout 5-3.

“Coming out today we wanted to reprove ourselves,” Charlton said. “Hopefully, we can move forward and get a better look at our next games and see where our potential is.”

Benet (8-2-1) had opportunities to win in overtime, as did Wheaton Warrenville South (5-4-1), but neither team was able to finish. Benet’s Amanda Kaiser, Katie Liber and Meaghan O’Hara all were denied by Graham or misfired in the second overtime

“Offensively, we’ve just got to get a little bit better,” Benet coach Henry Wind said. “We were close. I think we picked up the energy level (in OT) and Lexie Liber ran real hard, we picked up the midfield and distributed the ball, which was good.”

Lost in the Tigers’ struggles in scoring, is their defense. They’ve only allowed one goal in their past three games.

“I liked what I saw defensively,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Guy Callipari said. “The chances they were getting were from the outside and those were things we should be able to handle. We cleaned up pretty well tonight.”