Redwings stay unbeaten at Hinsdale South
By Dave Owen

Benet’s Amanda Kaiser sure knows how to make an entrance.

After missing the first five games of the season with a stress fracture in her toe, Kaiser returned Thursday at Hinsdale South.

And a mere 56 seconds into the match, Kaiser’s nice cross set up the first of two goals on the night by Michelle Morefield to start the Redwings (5-0-1) on their way to a 3-1 win over the Hornets (2-1).

“She has some aura about her that calms the team down and gets us to play controlled and composed,” Benet defender Rachel Pavlinec said of Kaiser. “We’re way better as a team with her.”

“Amanda had a really good cross (on the first goal) - it’s good to have her back,” Morefield said. “She’s a spark for our team.”

Morefield was quite a spark herself, getting a hip on Kaiser’s cross from right wing to direct it into the net. But her night was later nearly short-circuited in the first of many hard-hitting plays between the two teams.

Off a pass into the box from Lindsy Kendrick in the 10th minute of play, Morefield collided with Hinsdale South goalkeeper Vanessa Niestrom in a race for the loose ball. Morefield limped off the field holding her back in what was a scary reminder of recent history for her.

“In my last club game I fractured my back, so this game didn’t help it much,” Morefield said. “I actually had a two month recovery from it. But (Thursday) it was just the initial shock of it.”
Morefield would return to play 10 minutes later. And thanks again in large part to Kaiser, Benet’s offense kept rolling in her absence. 

On a Kaiser corner kick to the far post 21:52 before halftime, Benet defender Rachel Bernicky nicely sent a header back across the crease and into the corner of the net to make it 2-0 Redwings.

Bernicky’s perfect redirection would have been the goal of the night in many games. But Thursday, it was just a prelude to two even more picturesque shots.

Set up by a pass from Creighton-bound Jessica Mutters with 6:14 left in the half, Hinsdale South’s Jessica Koziol launched a 35-yard blast just under the crossbar to bring the Hornets within 2-1.

Koziol had nicely blocked a Morefield 30-yard direct kick two minutes earlier to help begin the momentum swing, and Kelly Flemm had a nice steal and run deep into Benet territory as the Hornets upped their pressure.

But if Benet’s start to the half was impressive, the end was even better.

After Kaiser sent two shots barely over the net in a two-minute span, a Hornet foul with 22 seconds left set up a 20-yard free kick for Morefield. From the left top of the box, Morefield lined a pinpoint shot into the very upper right corner of the net to send the Redwings soaring into the half up 3-1.

“That’s my third free kick goal of the year,” said Morefield, who has four goals total. “We have a lot of players that aren’t afraid to take on (opponents) so we can get those good fouls.”

 “I thought we played well in the first half,” Benet coach Bob Gros said. “We put a few things together that we’ve been working on. We scored in three distinctive ways, and each one put its mark on our improvement. At this point in time that’s critical with a young team.”

Benet’s speed advantage was a huge hurdle for the Hornets to overcome.

“This game was a wakeup call for us,” Mutters said. “Our first two games were slow paced – we had all the time in the world to do what we needed to do on the field. This game got us to realize that a lot of teams are going to be at a higher level, so we need to step up our game.”

“In other games we had three or four seconds to decide who to pass to,” Hinsdale South coach Pat Wolf said. “We had one or two in this one. But we picked it up in the second half, so you see improvement and that’s what we’re looking for.”

Hinsdale South didn’t let the roller-coaster finish to the first half derail them.

“We got that beautiful goal,” Mutters said, “and our energy went up and then back down again when they scored. But we went in for our halftime talk, got each other pumped up, and in the second half we came out with a better attitude and better play.

“We were really proud of ourselves because we played like a team. We came back, and we were connecting and taking all of the stuff that was thrown at us.”

The “stuff” endured by both teams was physical play that at times bordered on rugby. Mutters and Benet's Pavlinec were just two of the players who took noticeably hard hits in the second half scrum.

“We were getting roughed up, but we didn’t let it get us down,” said Morefield, who suffered another hard hit with 18 minutes left in the game that drew a yellow card. “We knew what we had to do tonight, and we did it.”

The rough play limited offensive chances for both sides. Benet’s Jacquie Kaufman hit the crossbar from 12 yards out with 23:10 left for the closest call of the half, but Hinsdale South’s offense put on late pressure. 

Brenda Maugeri sent a shot wide left on her strong attack with 7:45 to go, then in a fitting chapter to a high contact half, Koziol’s 20-yard free kick was blocked by Kaufman’s chin at the 3:30 mark.

Pavlinec followed with two nice clears of the box on consecutive plays. Playing the entire second half in relief of starter Emma Hlavin, Benet goalkeeper Christina Stopka made a catch of Koziol’s 35-yard shot with 45 seconds to go to deter the Hornets’ final threat.

“I thought Michelle had an outstanding game, and it was great to see Amanda back,” Gros said. “Jacquie was pretty dangerous on the outside, so we had a lot of good things going on.”

Defense has been one good thing all season for Benet, aided by first-year starters Bernicky, Ellie Bumpus and Sophia Elbchiri.

“We’re a really young defense,” Pavlinec said. “I’m the only returning defender, but we came in with a mentality that we were going to be the best, better than last year when we had all those seniors. I think we are better in some standpoints. We work really hard in practice, and we always try to communicate, go hard to the ball and back each other up.

“I think we’re learning how to work better together. When we play different teams they have different strengths, and we work on our weaknesses so each game we get better and better.”

The Redwings have allowed just four goals in six games this spring.

“That’s really a big thing because we haven’t been practicing much outside,” Morefield said. “They show so much chemistry back there for such a young squad.

“This is definitely a big momentum builder. We have our biggest conference game Saturday against Carmel, so we needed a good win to build towards next game.”

Despite his team’s loss, Wolf saw plenty of positive performances.

“I thought Brenda did a nice job,” Wolf said, “because she was playing in the back, and then when we needed to try to get something at the end she had the energy to go forward. And I thought Maggie (Nicosia) had a really good game – she was moving, wanting the ball and making plays.

“Cassie (Jensen) is very steady up front, and Jess Koziol plays hard all the time in the middle. You look at the middle and we’re good. We just need to work on getting more balls to the outside.”

Mary Claire Ladd, Elisabetta Bifero and Colleen McPherson are also part of a starting defender unit that allowed no shots on goal in the Hornets' 1-0 win over Morton on Tuesday.