Hilltoppers struggle to connect in loss to Redwings

 

By Matt Le Cren

Most teams’ prospects are still murky at this point in the season, but the goal Benet scored Thursday night was picture-perfect.

Sophomore Jacquie Kaufman recorded her first varsity point and senior Lindsy Kendrick bagged her first game-winning goal on a beautiful play with 21:07 left in the first half and the Redwings’ made it stand up for a 1-0 victory over Glenbard West at Benedictine University.

“That was awesome,” Kendrick said. “Honestly, I was just there at the right time.”

The goal came thanks to some of the good passing from the midfield that was plentiful for the Redwings, who outshot the Hilltoppers 17-2.

Kaufman got the ball on the right wing, raced to the endline on the right side of the West penalty area and just before the ball was about to go out of bounds, she sent a great centering pass in front to Kendrick trailing the play.

Kendrick’s one-timer from six yards out found the top shelf for her second career goal.

“Michelle [Morefield] had a great ball into me and I heard Meaghan [O’Hara] screaming ‘cross it,’” Kaufman said. “I just looked up, saw Lindsy and slotted it to her. She put it in the back of the net.”

The Redwings (1-0-1) didn’t put anything else in the back of the net despite creating numerous opportunities to do so.

Loretta Elder had two scoring chances in the first half, sending one 18-yard shot wide of the left post and seeing another stopped by West goalie Caroline Leland.

Other than that, the first half was not a thing of beauty.

“The first half was the worst half of soccer that we will play this year,” Benet coach Bob Gros said. “We did not do anything very effectively. But in [the Redwings’] defense, we had to transfer from gymnasium practices to a big [stadium].

“At halftime, I didn’t say much to them. I asked them to pick it up in terms of their determinations and they struggled to execute finishing because we had multiple opportunities and they were weak.”

Finishing is a fickle thing and usually the last thing many teams master. That’s been the case thus far for the Redwings, who controlled the midfield and put plenty of pressure on the Hilltoppers but had little to show for it.

Part of that is due to lack of practice time outdoors due to the abnormally cold temperatures.

“You have to be ready for the cold,” Kendrick said. “We’ve been outside a few times, but mostly in the gym, [so] it’s nice to get outside and work together.”

Aside from a couple of corner kicks, Glenbard West (0-1-1) had no real chances at getting the equalizer in the second half because the Redwings had the ball for much of the time, with freshman Ellie Bumpus sending passes up to Kaufman, Morefield and O’Hara with regularity.

“We made that change at halftime where we became a little more determined and I said, ‘you’ve got to use your speed, be aggressive,’ and you can see immediately that Jacquie’s speed they couldn’t handle,” Gros said.

“She did some nice things with the ball [and] we should have scored on three or four of her plays.”

Kaufman is one of a half-dozen Redwings who are starting for the first time. Some of them are varsity rookies but early chemistry experiments have shown promise.

“I feel like we’re getting a lot done in practice and we’re starting to see each other’s runs and finding the right balls to play,” Kaufman said. “We put one in the back of the net tonight and got the win.”

All wins are appreciated, but the first of the season with a new lineup is especially welcome.

“It’s pretty awesome knowing that we did it,” Kendrick said. “We worked hard. Yeah, we had some blatant mess-ups. We could have done better but it’s an awesome feeling knowing we won the game.”

In the early going, it was the Hilltoppers who were more dangerous.

Focusing mostly on defense and relying on counterattacks to mount an attack, the visitors found themselves close to breaking free behind the play of Abby Ohrnstein, Courtney Dugan, Alexandra Levin and Grace Burrello, but only got one good look at the net, that being a 30-yard shot by Levin that was saved by Benet goalie Christina Stopka with 8:20 to go in the half.

Most of the runs were stifled by sophomore defenders Rachel Bernicky and Sophia Elbchiri.

“Rachel Bernicky, the sweeper, saved us in the first half and Sophia, our marking back on the outside played really solid, composed, winning balls making runs forwards,” Gros said. “Ellie Bumpus in the middle was winning a lot of things, she was regulating and controlling the center of the field, so I thought the younger players did real well.”

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Glenbard West coach Maciej Kusmierz said. “Obviously Benet had a lot more depth.

“We were trying to keep the game close defensively and in the first half I think we had a good span of 20 minutes where we were actually getting close to their penalty box. It was just the final touch wasn’t quite there and then in the second half our fitness level decreased and then Benet had a little bit more of the possession.”

The Hilltoppers were strong defensively, bending but not breaking in the face of superior firepower. Senior Kylie Paul, who took over between the pipes for Leland at halftime, made six saves to keep her team in it.

“We work as a collective defending,” Kusmierz said. “We work trying to make it difficult for the other team. That was the plan for the game today and I think everybody did an excellent job.”