Redhawks overcome injuries to edge Redwings

By Darryl Mellema
Photos courtesy of Bret Richter

Three, the Schoolhouse Rock folks have been reminding us for 30 years, is a magic number.

Naperville Central might not have ascribed anything but Black Magic to the three players sitting with ice bags on various parts of their legs at halftime of Saturday's home contest with Benet Academy.

But there was an altogether different feeling about the three shots that had found the back of the Redwings' net.

Only one of those goal bound shots counted – Adam Hamielic's shot that followed A.J. Seaman's right-sided corner kick.

Hamielic's 26th minute goal won the match 1-0 for Napervlle Central and improved his team's record to 6-2 on the season.

"I think we played well as a team," Naperville Central senior Pat Flynn said. "I thought we possessed the ball well. But giving up no goals was the key. We played well defensively."

Naperville Central created a number of opportunities through the first 40 minutes and the Redhawks thought they had scored in the 14th minute when Seaman put the ball in the net from a left wing cross and a near-post flick header that left Seaman all alone at the back post.

But the assistant referee ruled the ball had gone over the sideline before the initial cross, so Benet restarted the match with a throw-in.

Hamielic's effort came next, and again a corner kick started the move. An initial shot was cleared off the line by Andrew Slaga – but the ball came to Hamielic, who scored.

In the last minute of the half, Blake Beehler put the ball into the net, but this time a foul was called when Jeremy Kaden collided with a Redwings defender.

Kaden spent halftime with an ice bag on his ankle, joining Jimmy Altosino (knee) and Mike Plant (ankle) as players who stayed on the team bench during halftime to try to nurse their wounds.

"Hopefully everything's all right for them," Redhawks coach Troy Adams said. “It looks like two of them will be OK. Hopefully (Kaden's) is just an ankle sprain and he needs to just take a little time off."

Naperville Central had started the match with a short bench and the trio of wounded players exacerbated the situation.

"We had three injured players and three to choose from," Adams said. "It made subbing easier because there were only so many combinations you can do.

"But the boys have on the back of their (team T-shirts) 'champions adjust.' That's what we did tonight. Every single player did something to help us win the game."

Benet (2-3-1) raised its energy level in the second half and put together a string of strong attacking moves. For the most part, the Redhawks remained composed against the onslaught.

"They had a lot of energy and we knew they were going to," Flynn said, "After the Best of the West, they had a week off. I think we came out and battled hard with them in the second half as a team."

When the defense did allow a shot on goal, Zach Richter stood tall to make saves. The junior has been rotating in goal with Mike Pavliga this year, giving Adams a very nice situation with which to deal.

"Zach was phenomenal," Adams said. "He came up with three huge saves for us in the first half and a nice one at the end. He's really been working a lot on hanging onto the ball when he catches it.

"There were two or three times where he came up huge, came out, caught the ball and stayed tall and allowed us to get out of dangerous situations."

Certainly for the time being, Richter and Pavliga will continue to alternate in goal.

"We're fortunate that we have two very good goalies," Adams said. "It's good for me. I'm sure the boys aren't absolutely stoked that there's two good goalkeepers.

"But that's nice for me and it'll benefit them, too. We have three on the roster and they get a chance to work with Coach (Mike) Ortiz and become better keepers."

Naperville Central returns to DuPage Valley Conference action on Tuesday with a match at Glenbard East. Saturday's match was a very useful nonconference tuneup for that match and beyond.

"We gained as a team playing a strong opponent who was aggressive," Flynn said. "They were a strong team and they forced us to play strong and I thought we answered that very well.

"We won a lot of balls out of the air in the middle and defensive third of the field and that helped us get the attacks started and then to push the ball up the field."