Benet winner a thing of beauty
It doesn’t matter if a soccer goal is pretty or ugly, as long as it finds the back of the net.
Still, it goes without saying that any fan of the sport enjoys seeing one of those special moments when players connect on a few passes to create a wonderful winner.
With Benet and Neuqua Valley deadlocked at 2-2 on Thursday night in the Best of the West Tournament at Naperville North, just such an opportunity came to fruition as Redwings junior forward Kyle Kenagy received a perfect pass from sophomore forward Daniel Morefield.
Morefield’s touch slipped ahead of the defense and right to the sprinting Kenagy, who tucked it past Neuqua Valley goalkeeper Reed Kurtenbach with 7:34 remaining to give the Redwings a 3-2 victory.
“I knew Kyle would outrun the defense, he can outrun most kids on the field,” Morefield said. “Trenton (Wray) played a great ball to me and I saw Kyle streaking through and knew he could finish it if I got it to him.”
Neuqua Valley (2-2-0) took a 1-0 lead on a Ryan Ross score with 25:36 remaining in the first half, but the Wildcats finally succumbed to Benet’s offensive threats with 2:09 left before halftime, allowing Sam Knapke to make it a 1-1 contest.
“We allowed Naperville North (on Tuesday) to score with two minutes left to beat us and then we let them tie us today late in the first half,” Wildcats coach Skip Begley said. “We have to do a better job managing games and knowing what has to happen in the back.”
Morefield, who played on the JV squad as a freshman last fall, gave Benet a 2-1 lead with 29:56 left in the contest, but it proved not to be enough as Neuqua Valley tallied the equalizer with 16:54 remaining.
It was Morefield’s first varsity goal off a rebound in traffic.
“That felt great,” he said. “My teammates kept working hard in the box to get the ball in and it ended up at my feet and I was able to put it in.”
It was just one part of entertaining Benet victory.
“It was a bit of back and forth, which is what we expected because (Neuqua’s) a good team,” Benet coach Sean Wesley said. “I thought we did a much better job than we did against Waubonsie.”
Kenagy, who has transitioned from defender to forward this season, has done so seamlessly. Of course, he’s also got experience as a forward via club play.
“I’ve always played forward for my club team, so it’s just a little different here (at Benet),” he said. “I’m very excited. We had a perfect team effort and every man, from 1 to 26, worked amazingly tonight and we wouldn’t have won without all of them.”