Sports
Downers Grove South Boys Soccer Team Loses to Benet
Winless streak now at four as Mustangs struggle offensively and defensively.
LISLE -- Downers Grove South boys soccer coach Jon Stapleton realized his team wasn't focused from the moment it got on the bus on Monday to travel to Benet.
The Mustangs surrendered three first-half goals and never recovered, falling 3-1 to the Redwings in a non-conference match .
"We didn't come to play," Stapleton said. "It's very embarrassing."
Find out what's happening in Woodridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
A normally reliable defense, which has been one of the biggest strengths for the Mustangs this fall, succumbed to the attack of the Redwings. But Downers South was its own worst enemy at times, too.
"Give them (Benet) credit for capitalizing on our mistakes," Stapleton said. "But we're better than that. It's real disappointing."
Find out what's happening in Woodridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Benet (7-6-1) tallied its first goal in the 10th minute when Hunter Miller found the back of the net with a shot that soared out of the reach of goalkeeper Sam Hadley.
Miller would prove to be quite the nemesis as he'd also play a role in the Redwings final two scores. In the 23rd minute, he got a lot of leg on a shot that Hadley was able to slow down, but unable to clear from the goalmouth. Benet's Brian Morefield was able to track down the rebound and tap it in to make it 2-0.
The Redwings added their third goal at the 28th minute. The scoring play was ignited by another play from Miller, this time a pass to Sean Mogan . He redirected the ball to Sean O'Hara, who finished. It was only the third time this season that the Mustangs have yielded three or more goals in a match.
"Not to take anything away from what Benet did, but I'm just real disappointed," Stapleton said. "We can't win head balls, we can't defend, we can't make passes."
Halftime gave the Mustangs time to regroup, but having to battle back from a three-goal deficit is awfully difficult to do. While they kept the Redwings scoreless in the second half, they were only able to pull within 3-1.
"If we played with half the energy in the first half as we did in the second half, we might've seen a different result," Stapleton said. "It was a disappointing day all around."
Downers Grove South (9-3-4) picked up its lone goal from senior forward Kyle Wolf off a free kick.
After winning five straight, the Mustangs are now struggling through a four-game winless streak (0-2-2).
"We didn't come to play this game," Downers Grove South defender Mike Leahy said. "We've played some good games against good teams with good scorers, but today we didn't defend the whole field."
