Adams' goal enough for Redhawks

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:18PM

Each time Naperville Central boys soccer coach Troy Adams peeked at his bench he saw fewer players.

The Redhawks lost three key players to injury, but they shuffled the lineup just enough to muster enough offense to defeat Benet by a 1-0 score in their annual nonconference match on Saturday night at Central's Memorial Stadium.

Adam Hamielic tallied his first varsity goal when he managed to get a solid strike on the ball after teammate AJ Seaman sent a corner kick into the Benet penalty area in the 26th minute.

"All that matters is that the ball went in," Hamielic said. "I saw the ball bounce and I managed to get my foot on it."

Hamielic's goal was one of three the Redhawks (6-2) scored in the first half, but two were waived off by the officials.

Adams was proud of the effort his team gave – especially goalie Zach Richter, who came up with several big saves.

"The boys have a saying that champions adjust and that would sum up tonight," Adams said. "You hate to see players go down (to injury) and we had a lot of good players go down tonight, but everyone adjusted and came up big and kept their composure."

Benet coach Sean Wesley saw his team drop its record to 2-3-1, and after not playing this past week the expectations were for a positive decision.

"I'll throw myself under the bus," Wesley said. "As a varsity head coach and you get a week to prepare for a team – you expect to get a result regardless of who you play. We wanted to make a statement, but the bottom line is that we have a tough time playing from behind."

Benet had five great scoring chances in the second half, but Richter made a key save or the chance went wide of the net.

"That was the best we've played in the offensive third the entire year," Wesley said. "We're getting there."

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