Boys soccer: Benet stays hot with shutout win at Carmel
Benet's soccer team extended its unbeaten streak to 10 games after Wednesday's 2-0 victory in the rain over Carmel in an East Suburban Catholic Conference contest at Butler Stadium in Mundelein.
The Redwings (10-3-3) moved their ESCC record to 6-1-0 to solidify its spot just behind Notre Dame (7-0-1), which secured the league title last weekend after its 4-4 draw with St. Viator.
“It was a good win for us because it sends us into our last game of the regular season against St. Viator with confidence and momentum,” said Benet senior Drew Fieldman, who was a key figure in this game.
“Drew did everything and was everywhere for us tonight,” said Benet coach Matt Klosterman.
“He won a ton of balls in the midfield, was fantastic in the air, won countless tackles, and did all of the gritty, dirty work for us when we needed it most,” added Klosterman.
Jack Wesley got the visitors off to a strong start in the 10th minute when the freshman hit a 30-yard cracker that rattled off the bar and over the endline — with Fieldman there to escort the ball into the net.
“Jack gave us the perfect start with that early goal because Carmel responded real well (and) had a lot of the play for long periods of the first half, then again after the break,” said Fieldman.
“It's a tough loss for us because I thought we played really well tonight. We conceded that early goal, and later on, when we were pushing numbers a little, they put in that second one that was a tough one to allow,” said Corsairs coach Rob Etheridge.
Carmel (8-9-2, 4-3-0) put a lot of pressure on the Redwings during the last quarter hour of the first half with Sammy Arroyo, Roman Lynch, Max Mazzocco and BJ Mensah at the heart of the Corsairs' movement and possession. That kept them nipping at the heels of their guests, who relied heavily on all-state candidate and Loyola-bound Nick Roe to keep things safe in front of keeper Drew Connell.
Mateo Picha iced the game for Benet with a sublime touch after Alex Farsalas split open the Corsairs in their own end with an early ball in the 74th minute.
“(It's) hard to believe Carmel is an eight-loss team. They have a lot of talent, and they certainly gave us trouble from time to time tonight, so it feels good to get out of here with a win,” said Klosterman.
“There's a lot of quality on this team. And in the last half of the season, after a poor start to the season, we've won five out of our six games to show we have the talent to compete at a high level,” Etheridge said.