Redwings blanked by Vikings in Naperville Invite

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By Eddie Burns

Brittany Pullen insists that Benet Academy can score goals.

But for the Redwings to do so takes greater effort than most of their opponents, especially the likes of what Benet has seen in the 13th annual Naperville Invite.

Fremd became the latest team to stymie Benet. The Vikings scored a 1-0 win against the Redwings on Saturday afternoon at Wheaton North as the two teams concluded opening round competition in the tournament.

Benet lost to Wheaton Warrenville South by the same score on Thursday.

"We have people on this team who can score, but we don't have that one person who is the leading scorer for the team," Pullen said.

"We definitely make everything work as a team. We just need to do a better job of finishing."

The Redwings (7-4) had their best scoring chances in the first half. The first occurred when Catherine Caniglia sent a cross to teammate Lexie Liber, but Liber's shot sailed over the net in the 14th minute.

A few minutes later, Madie Burke sent a shot slightly high of the Fremd net.

"I told the girls that we played two games and had two losses here, but the difference was they scored one goal in each game and we didn't," Benet coach Henry Wind said.

"That is one area where we need to continue to work and get better at – finishing. We had some opportunities, but not a lot, but neither did Fremd, but they buried the one chance they had."

Benet (7-4) is young at almost every position, including forward.

“They are playing well and playing hard, but when we receive the ball, they have to make a move," Wind said.

"They can't hold the ball and stand there and so forth – they have to beat someone and go in tough. We've got to get better at that."

The Vikings (9-1-1) tallied the lone score in the 27th minute when Michelle Mottonen sent a pass to Elise Kotsakis, who had her back to the Benet net.

Kotsakis then turned and fired a left-footed shot into the upper quadrant out of the reach of Benet goalie Claire Munaretto.

"The only thing I saw in us allowing that goal was we gave (Kotsakis) a little bit too much room at the beginning where she could turn instead of getting on her a little quicker where she couldn't turn,” Wind said.

"We gave her about three or four yards of too much room we waited a bit too long to close because by that time the ball was on its way."

Outside of those two early scoring chances the Redwings were never dangerous until the closing minutes of the match when Caytin Lewin and Jamei Borges created chances.

"We are too inconsistent," Pullen said. "We need to be stronger in the air. We need to finish the opportunities we have because we don't get a lot of them.

"We need to switch the field and spread things out more – playing the ball to the corners is one thing that we try to do because we have some fast people up front. We need to communicate a lot more. There is a lot that we can do better."

Like a lot of teams, the Redwings are also banged up, which means players are at positions that they are not used to playing.

Even with a lot of new faces in new places, the Redwings are playing much better soccer than they did earlier this season.

"We are such a better team from how we started the season against York and Glenbard West," Pullen said.

"Those two games were not fun to watch because we looked like we were playing subdivision soccer again. We're getting better, but we have a ways to go."

Wind said he saw plenty of signs of encouragement in the losses to WW South and Fremd.

"I think we gained confidence from these games because this is a good tournament featuring a lot of good teams," Wind said.

"The girls can say, 'Hey, we can play with these girls.' We didn't get hammered or beat badly. We were solid on defense like we've been all year and we have to continue to get better at finishing when we are on offense."

Pullen agreed that the team knows that there is not much separation between the Redwings and the rest of the competition in the Naperville Invite.

"I'm disappointed that we didn't get a win," Pullen said. "We need to score on the offensive opportunities that we get because we're not the strongest offensive team.

"But in general, I am proud of how we played. I mean, we only lost games by one goal, so we are right there. It is not like teams are beating us by a lot – it is a matter of us capitalizing on opportunities when they are there."

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