In 1998 the Naperville Invitational began as an eight-team, two-pool round robin showcase of the state’s best teams.

From 1999 to 2009, the tournament grew to 16 teams divided in four groups. There was a distinct correlation between the tournament winner, and the state champion, such as New Trier between 2003 and 2005, or Waubonsie Valley between 2007 to 2009.

The tournament has been at its current 24-team total since 2010.

Benet coach Gerald Oconer has coached at the tournament since he took over the program in 2017. His work there has been impressive as illustrated by his career-mark of 126-29-4.

His teams have captured the Class AA state championship in 2019 and have reached the title match each of the last two years, finishing as the runnerup to Triad and Glenwood.

After freshman Megan Bergman scored two goals in the 3-1 victory over St. Charles East on April 27 at Naperville Central, Oconer and his club achieved a first for the school.

The victory punched the Redwings’ ticket to the championship game of the Naperville Invitational against no. 4 New Trier at 6 p.m. Monday at Naperville Central.

“Until this year we’d never gotten to the semifinal, and only reached the quarterfinal bracket twice,” Oconer said. “The tournament is such a gauntlet, and there are no easy games. Every game can really go either way.”

The Redwings, who jumped from 23rd to no. 7 in the Chicagoland Soccer Top 25 this week, are on a roll with 10-straight wins. 

The Redwings have multiple players with experience from the two state finals’ teams, including senior Bailey Abbott, the lynchpin of the backline who is a terrific two-way talent. She also had a goal in the victory over St. Charles East.

“She is one of the best defenders in the state,” Oconer said.

Benet began the season with competitive one-goal losses to no. 2 Metea Valley on March 16 and no. 6 Wheaton North on March 19 in the latter’s Kickoff Classic.

“We were thrown into the fire instantly when the season started,” Abbott said. “Although those games did not end with the result we wanted, we were able to see that we could hang with competition of that caliber.

“We were able to fine-tune some things. Now this tournament is the best.”

The team has been virtually untouchable since then. 

Most impressively, Benet has intertwined important East Suburban Catholic Conference games, like its 4-2 win over former Class AA Super 7 no. 1 Saint Viator on April 23, with group play games and the championship bracket of the tournament.

“The variety of games has kept us on our toes and kept our energy high,” Abbott said. 

“I think our main source of fuel has been our desire to prove ourselves. We had a slightly slower start to the season than we are used to, but the combination of some important conference wins as well as the group play wins has pushed us to keep fighting.”

Benet has a 32-5 goal-differential during the run, and has posted five shutouts during the streak. The most impressive was the 1-0 victory over no. 8 and formerly top-ranked Lyons on April 25 in a quarterfinal.

Senior Kate Grubish was the backup keeper to all-stater Shannon Clark last year. She saw action in 10 games, and did not permit a goal, an indication of what she was capable of.

“Playing Metea and Wheaton North at the beginning of the season was a wake-up call, and highlighted what we needed to work on,” Grubish said. “Since those games, our team chemistry and ability to score has improved so much, which is why we’re here in this game now.”

Like all other teams, Benet has had to deal with turnover and injuries. 

The team lost multiple impact players like all-staters Clark, Reese MacDonald and Sadie Sterbenz, and Anna Casmere, Rachel Burns and Brinkley Douglas. Junior Keira Petrucelli, who had 12 goals and 11 assists last year, is out for the season recovering from a knee injury.

“A big part of our drive is knowing that others have underestimated us, saying the graduation of so many players and being bumped up to Class 3A (via the IHSA success criteria) was going to hold us back,” Grubish said. 

“If anything, it has lit a fire under us. I told the girls at the beginning of the season that we can’t focus on the players we lost, but on the players we gained. That’s exactly what we’ve done.”

Benet has elite sophomores in forwards Ivana Vukas and Annie Fitzgerald, neither of whom were at the St. Charles East win. 

Fitzgerald has a team-best seven goals, and Vukas has six, as does junior forward Johnna Caliendo. Thirteen players have scored at least one goal.

Now the team goes for something unprecedented.

“We’re thrilled to have made it this far,” Abbott said. “The tournament is always a point in the season that we use to gauge where we are, and how much development we have made.

“We haven’t had as much success in this specific tournament, so the fact that we have fought our way this far is amazing and extremely motivating.”

New Trier is one of the original programs to take part in the founding of the tournament in 1998. 

In 2010, the Trevians won the debut of the tournament’s eight-pool, 24-team format. Amazingly, during its string of consecutive state championships from 2014 to 2016, the Trevians never won the Naperville Invitational those seasons.

New Trier last won the tournament in 2018 during the sophomore season of star Emma Weaver. That team ended up finishing second to Barrington in the state championship.

New Trier returns to the championship game after a 2-0 semifinal victory over Hinsdale Central on April 27.

Forward and all-stater Josie Noble scored an unassisted goal in the first half, and forward Charlotte Dellin scored off a beautiful pass from midfielder Annie Paden during the second half.

New Trier has an almost hard-to-comprehend 51-4 scoring differential on the season. The team has posted an astonishing 15 shutouts, keyed by a physical, aggressive and highly skilled defensive unit featuring all-stater Clara Deliduka, Kennedy Colegrove, Basie Shannon, Honor Dold and freshman keeper Annie Fowler.

Since losing 2-1 to No. Naperville North in the semifinals of the 6th annual Lou Malnati’s Deep Dish Classic on April 11, the Trevians (13-2-3) have posted six-consecutive shutouts and gone nearly 500 minutes of play without conceding a goal.

“We are super excited to reach the championship game,” Deliduka said. “I think it symbolizes a lot of hard work in practice to fight through challenges. It’s awesome to see it all pay off.

“Ultimately, we don’t want to stay satisfied with getting here. We are focused on leaving with a win.”

Like Benet, New Trier has had to play a variety of teams with contrasting styles in a very compressed schedule, going from the Malnati’s tournament to conference games leading into the Naperville Invitational schedule.

“I would say we have a pretty competitive schedule with strong early season, conference and tournament-play opponents,” Deliduka said. “It allows us to experience different challenges.”

Noble, Paden and Deliduka are returning starters from a team that reached the supersectional round last spring. That experience is also a factor.

The team is bonded and deeply connected.

“A lot of the fuel comes from what people don’t see: bus rides, workouts and practice,” Paden said. “We have grown to appreciate the time we have left rather than trying to be perfect.

“I think this shift to just wanting to have fun and enjoy the game we all love has been our driving force, and fired up a positive energy.”

Now the parts, mental and physical, are naturally fused.

“We were kind of tense towards the beginning of the season, but recently we’ve kind of just focused on having fun,” Noble said. “It is definitely something that has contributed toward our success.

“When we are relaxed, we just start to click even more as a team, and the goals just kind of come naturally. Winning is fun.”