Redwings fall in PK's to Huskies in Best of the West

By Eddie Burns

Kevin Anderson was certainly glad that coaches for Benet Academy and Naperville North allowed the match between their teams to advance to the penalty kicks when it ended 1-1 at the end of regulation on Saturday morning.

Neuqua Valley had already clinched a spot in the Best of the West Tournament Championship by virtue of defeating both the Redwings and Huskies earlier in the week, meaning North and Benet had only bragging rights on the line.

But that was enough to keep Anderson going as he stopped Benet's Ryan Reilly in the fifth round and then Anderson's teammate Joe Sullivan converted his attempt to give the Huskies a 3-2 win in penalty kicks.

"I love being in (penalty kick) situations," Anderson said. "I was smiling the whole time. I was having fun.

"To be honest, when I get caught up in all of the emotions of the shootout I get nervous, so I try not to think about it. I just try to think about focusing on the ball and the task at hand. It was fun stuff."

The penalty-kick round initially favored Benet as Redwings' goalie Kyle DalSanto stopped North's Andrew Adcock in the first round.

Benet's Ben Kucera and Sean O'Hara gave the Redwings a 2-1 advantage heading into the fourth round.

However, Benet's Brian Morefield sent an attempt wide, which allowed North to tie it at 2-2 when the Huskies' Lee Grander converted.

Reilly said he put his attempt where he wanted it, but Anderson made the right read.

"(Anderson) just jumped early and made a great save," Reilly said. "I put it where I wanted to, but he made a big save."

Anderson said he just followed his usual routine.

"I always take one step back in the net, stand up, get set and usually look at the shooter's eyes," Anderson said.

"I don't know why, but most shooters have a tendency to look one way and you know they are shooting the other way."

Anderson's save meant North needed Sullivan to convert his attempt and DalSanto managed to get a hand on that shot, but the ball found its way into the goal to end the shootout in North's favor.

"Kevin is a big kid and he may be the keeper around the next few years," Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said.

"He has the potential to be Division I-type goalie. He made some big saves today. We were fortunate that we snuck one in, but credit (DalSanto) he is awfully impressive for a sophomore."

Benet coach Sean Wesley saw the benefits of allowing the shootout to take place.

"I don’t think either coach thought it would be 2-2 after four rounds," Wesley said.

"You think your kids are going to bury them, but the pressure is a different thing and I think that is a reason why all of these teams play in this tournament to get an idea of what it will be like in the postseason."

The match started off slow and was scoreless at intermission. The contest didn't begin to resemble a meeting of close rivals until the second half when things started to get testy on both sides.

North (3-1) benefited from a quick restart to take a 1-0 lead in the 42nd minute when Grander flicked an Evan Trychta restart past DalSanto.

It was about this time when Benet (2-2-1) really started to apply pressure.

The match went back and forth, but the Redwings pulled even when restart specialist Sean Mogan tucked a left-footed restart underneath the crossbar and out of Anderson's reach.

"(Mogan's goal) was a gorgeous shot – a great, great goal," Konrad said.

Both coaches saw positives and negatives when all was said and done.

North's defensive back featuring Grander, who recently committed to Butler University, Jimmy Butler, Max Auden and Matt Vogel has not allowed a goal in the run of play through four matches.

Midfielders Kyle Lindberg and Adcock have adjusted to North's new system, but the Huskies need to finish in the final third.

"The first half we played very well, but we didn't score," Konrad said. "We're doing a lot of things right, but we're not finding the back of the net.

"We have to find a way to finish off when we get chances and unfortunately that is something we haven't been able to do. We know where we are at and what we have to work on. It was a good week of soccer against good competition."

Wesley and the Benet coaching staff pointed to the importance of the Redwings' first six matches as being critical to the campaign, and through the first five, Benet has a 2-2-1 record.

"I am very happy with the way we've performed," Wesley said. "We have talent, but we still have plenty of work to do and playing against the best teams in the state kind of just shows that.

"We knew we were good and I think we've proved that we're good, but we're not great yet and we have potential. That is the advantage of playing in games like this."

Reilly also saw positives in the outcome.

"We didn't play well the first 40 minutes, but we battled back, tried our hardest and gave it our all and we forced a tie to get to the shootout stage," Reilly said.

"I think that shows something about our side. It was a great experience to take the penalty kicks. Overall, this was a good week because we love this part of the season with all of the good competition we get to see."

Benet has a week off before it returns to action next Saturday night at Naperville Central.

The Huskies host a pair of DuPage Valley Conference matches this week against Glenbard North and West Aurora.