Naperville North too much for Benet

Updated: September 3, 2011 4:13PM

Barring an extremely lopsided defeat, Naperville North was already assured of advancing from Saturday morning’s group play contest with Benet into the evening’s championship match of the Best of the West Tournament.

But that didn’t mean the Redwings didn’t give it their best shot before North ultimately prevailed by a 3-1 tally which dipped Benet’s record to 2-3-0 while North improved to 4-0-1 prior to the 6 pm championship with Sandburg. Like the Huskies, Sandburg’s Eagles claimed all three of their group-play matches.

Naperville North got on the scoreboard 17:44 prior to halftime when Evan Trychta’s through ball enabled Joe Sullivan to get to the ball on left side from where the junior midfielder nailed a nine-yard chip just over the head of out-rushing Benet keeper Kyle Dal Santo.

“With Evan setting me up in open space, I didn’t see anyone else around and when the goal keeper came off his line to rush at me, I took a chance,” Sullivan explained. “As soon as I kicked it, it felt right and I knew it would get under the crossbar.”

Four minutes elapsed before Benet had a chip try fly over the crossbar allowing the 1-0 tally to hold up at intermission. However, five minutes into the second half, the Redwings got the equalizer on some stellar maneuvering by Hunter Miller. The senior worked himself free for a 22-yard rocket that tailed past North goalie Kevin Anderson.

“Everyone’s momentum was going to the left, so I cut it back quickly for a perfect opportunity for a goal. With all the people out front, the goalkeeper didn’t see it coming until it was too late,” Miller noted. “It felt great to tie it especially against a team like North, but it was also disappointing that we couldn’t hold the momentum.”

With 20:33 still to play, a scramble in front of the Redwings’ goal turned into a three-yard tap-in by the Huskies’ Lee Grander.

“It was a total scramble and when the ball bounced my way, it was more instinct than anything, I just tucked it inside the near post,” Grander said of his second goal of the season.

Riding that momentum switch, host North got an insurance goal with 11:15 remaining as Kyle Lindberg pass led Trychta into splitting between two Redwing defenders for a 16-yard strike from left of center.

“It never hurts to get a little more security in terms of a two-goal lead,” Trychta said. “With the goalie off his line I saw a little window to the left side and just powered it past him.”

It provided some welcome relief for coach Jim Konrad, whose 15-year tenure has included a state title, conference crowns, and numerous post-season plaques, but has not included an appearance in the Best of the West finale.

“Once they tied it, the boys didn’t go into a shell, they kept creating chances and finished a couple of them,” Konrad said. “So I was glad to see us put up three goals against a tough opponent.”

On the opposite bench, Benet boss Sean Wesley admittedly would have preferred a win, but couldn’t fault his squad.

“We were minus a couple guys and pretty much used our whole bench because they’ve got so much talent. We came back from a deficit and tried not to just play kick ball but they had more energy and pretty much ran us into the ground in the second half. Miller did some good things for us on offense and clearly we want to see take more shots.”

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