Girls soccer: Benet still flawless after beating St. Viator
With a sterling hat trick, Anna Casmere helped ensure visiting Benet Academy left Arlington Heights in control of the East Suburban Catholic Conference girls soccer race after a 5-1 victory to spoil Senior Day for host St. Viator on Thursday.
The victory moved the Redwings to a perfect 12-0-0 overall, and 5-0-0 in league play, with key back-to-back victories over Joliet Catholic Academy and St. Viator, their two closest challengers for top honors in the ESCC.
"It was one of those games we had to just grind out a victory and with the extreme heat, and Senior Day at school for us (Wednesday), our energy level wasn't where it needed to be in the first half. But we turned it around in the second half to get an important win against our longtime rival," said Redwings coach Gerard Oconer.
Casmere collected a ball from Mariana Pinto then broke into the box and finished with lethal precision to give the visitors an early lead just 5 minutes into the contest.
"Even with us getting that first goal I thought our first half of play, and especially at the very beginning, we started out really slow," said Casmere. "At the break, we talked about playing with more urgency, and more one-two touches, and when we did we were able to take control of the game."
The Redwings had some trouble with the high pressure the Lions (6-3-2, 2-1-1) would bring, particularly from senior Caroline Sexton, who ran all day long at the Benet back line while creating chances for herself and her teammates.
Sexton would bring the Lions' faithful to life when she hit the equalizer in the 43rd minute, and for the next 5-6 minutes, it appeared the goal would provide the momentum the Lions would need to turn the match in their favor.
"Sexton's goal seemed to be exactly what we needed but when we didn't take advantage of it Benet soon hit the go-ahead goal, and then we ran out of steam to allow them to take over the game," said Lions head coach Mike Taylor.
Paige Neri, who together with Pinto would have a hand in 4 of the 5 Redwings goals, provided the helper on Casmere's second goal in the 58th minute, a lovely finish when she brought Lily Collins off her line with a quick move to her right.
Nora Hanson ran up the left side before whipping a perfect ball to the back post where Casmere steered in her third of the game at 72 minutes.
An own goal increased the Benet advantage to 4-1 shortly thereafter, before Jaimee Cibulka added one more to the score line in the 80th minute on Pinto's third assist of the day.
"It was a typical Benet-St. Viator game - hard fought, physical, and plenty of action on both sides of the ball - and to the credit of our girls, they found a way to play a strong second half to get the result we came here for," said Oconer.