Boys lacrosse: Michalik, Benet seniors shine against Naperville Central

Drenched in sweat and tired from running around for nearly two hours in the oppressive heat, Benet senior Brian Michalik was all smiles after Saturday afternoon's game against Naperville Central.

After missing out on his first varsity season due to the coronavirus pandemic last spring, Michalik cherished Senior Day.

He also cherished his stellar performance.

Michalik scored a team-high 5 goals to propel Benet to a 23-6 rout over Naperville Central at Benedictine University.

"This win means a lot because I missed last year, and there were a lot of alumni here and they didn't get to have their senior season last year, so it was special to get the win for them," Michalik said. "It's a great win. Benet is back. We had a lot of seniors play and even score."

Michalik sparked the Redwings (8-2) with his play early in the game to help his team take a commanding 16-2 lead.

"I was just looking for open passes from teammates and we all worked as a team, which we've been doing all year. This win means a lot, especially for the seniors after we didn't get to play last year and we got to do it for the seniors from last season."

Nicholas Lynch tallied 4 goals and Brendall Wall, Christian McCuaig, Erik Lorenzi, Evan Stonis, Dominic O'Neill and Robert Burjek all finished with 2 goal each to power Benet's high-octane attack.

Wall, a senior, said the conditions made playing tough, but the Redwings showed a lot of character by playing hard for four quarters.

"Playing at Benedictine is really fun because we're normally on grass field at Benet, but the turf (here) was extremely hot today," Wall said. "It was very hot, but we played through it."

Benet, which won its fourth straight game, played strong defense to limit Naperville Central (1-10) to only 6 goals.

"Our seniors had a good run and they were all looking forward to this day, and we had a lot of seniors come back, so it was a good day," Benet coach Richard Moran said. "We're looking forward to the playoffs. We have a pretty strong team, and we're hoping to get a good seeding."

Junior Alec Sall led the Redhawks with 2 goals in the loss.

"They are one of the top 10 to 15 teams in the state, so definitely we want to play these games to get better," Naperville Central coach Blake Zinn. "We've seen a lot of growth from our guys in the last three or four games. Playing a super good team like this will only help us. We can learn from this experience and get better."