By Bobby Narang
Benet Academy and Wheaton Academy High Schools are both aiming for the same goal this season in girl’s soccer.
Although the Benet Redwings will be competing in Class 3A, and the Wheaton Warriors in 2A, the two teams have significantly talent, quality veterans and excellent coaching.
Both coaches are looking for long playoff runs this spring.
Both teams battled in a March 25 game that provided a preview of things to come. The Redwings relied on a strong second half to post a 5-1 win over Wheaton Academy in West Chicago.
Wheaton Academy sophomore goalie Norah Pennings had a strong showing in the defeat.
Loaded with next-level talent, discipline and excellent skill level, the Redwings (6-0) have dominated this season.
But Pennings did her best to slow Benet’s aggressive attack, finishing with 12 saves in the defeat to keep her team in the game for the first 65 minutes.
“Norah is a fantastic goalkeeper,” Wheaton Academy coach Maria Selvaggio said. “She came in last year as a freshman and was kind of thrown into a starting spot because our other keeper got hurt. She gained so much experience. She put in so much work. Her presence is going to be huge for us. Tonight, that was definitely the case.”
Early in the first half, Pennings showed off her reaction skills and athleticism with two amazing saves in a 15-second span. She dove to her left to stop a shot by Benet’s Preslie Peterson, bounced up to add another save off a rebound shot by Ivana Vukas in the 32nd minute.
“It definitely was a tough game, Pennings said. “Definitely, I learned about myself and this team that we can get through a tough game. They were a strong opponent. I just knew I had to keep our team in the game. I just tried to keep myself mentally in the game to give our team a chance.”
Benet has outscored its opponents 32-4 this season, including a 8-0 win over Nazareth. Genevieve Burda, Preslie Petersen, Annie Fitzgerald, Ivana Vukas and Sophia Duncan scored goals for the Redwings in the win over Wheaton Academy.
Benet coach Gerard Oconer said his team is primed for a special season.
“We’re excited about the kind of team we have this year,” Oconer said. “We’re strong pretty much everywhere. We really feel we have a team to make a deep run in the playoffs this year.”
Selvaggio said playing a Class 3A powerhouse program will help her players in the long run.
“I felt we played very organized and dangerous soccer for 60 minutes, but then we kind of crashed a bit,” Selvaggio said. “We tried to keep girls fresh. We showed grit and proved tonight we can play with anybody. We just have to be super organized when playing teams with dangerous playmakers like they have. We had a couple of errors led to a couple of goals that I felt were avoidable. We had a few good moments as well. Benet is a great team. We’re always excited to play strong teams at the start of the season.
“Big balls forward and putting pressure on the backline eventually wore us down. It’s always fun to play them. It should be very encouraging for us. We have a lot of good pieces and have worked very hard. I’m excited for the girls to use the lessons and experiences from this game to prepare us for a very exciting April and hopefully a deep postseason run in Class 2A.”