LISLE – Playing at the Benet Soccer Park has become a sort of Death Valley to those who travel there.

It's a big, long, wide pitch, and is something out of the past as it sports natural grass.

Against East Suburban Catholic Conference rivals since the 2021 fall season, the Redwings have an impressive 13-3-0 overall record and 81 percent win percentage.

However, the record does not intimidate Notre Dame in the least. Those three Benet defeats, you see, have come from the Dons.

"(Benet) is so tough at home," began Notre Dame manager Mike Smith. “For most of us it's a long bus ride here, the field is so big and playing on grass, when most of us play on turf, has given an already great program a huge advantage.

"But our guys have come in here and done quite well. Today proved to be another successful visit."

Indeed.

On a dreary early Saturday afternoon, the Dons could not have started any better and the hosts much worse.

The visitors doubled their pleasure in the first four minutes, thanks to Joey Sorce and Sebastian Dzierzanowski, en route to a 3-1 victory.

"Joey and Seba (Sebastian Dzierzanowski) came up so big for us right start to give us momentum, energy and the type of confidence we needed against a great team like Benet in a game that we really needed to have," beamed defender Jack McNamara, who shared the Chicagoland Soccer Man of the Match honor with teammate Amir Mehmeti.

The importance of this day was clear to McNamara, Mehmeti and their rest of their mates -- a loss would have likely all but ended Notre Dame’s chances for a fourth-consecutive league title.

The Dons claimed the title outright last year and in 2021, after sharing the crown with Benet and St. Patrick in 2022.

"We all knew what this game meant, and I really felt we came out ready to play," said Mehmeti.

The Dons (10-3-0, 4-1-0) found themselves in a must-win situation Saturday after their disappointing 3-1 road loss Sept. 18 at St. Patrick in the annual Irish Cup contest.

"Things did not go well for us at Pat's, and it cost us that day," said Smith. “So, to see the guys come out and get that great start and then fight hard the rest of the way to get the win is very satisfying.”

The Dons have now won their last three games in Lisle.

As good as the game started for Notre Dame, the script was flipped for Benet.

"It was the worst possible start that we could have had today," said Redwings manager Matt Klosterman, whose club still has five league fixtures remaining, beginning with Joliet Catholic on Wednesday afternoon.

"We've had a full week off to train, rest, get healthy to be ready for Notre Dame, but we came out flat, and they made us pay for it," said Jack Wesley.

The Redwings sophomore, who played the six, had not experienced his club having such a poor start in an important game, and at home to boot.

"(We) were ready to play, but we looked a little disorganized right off the whistle,” he said. “They came down and scored right away. Then we lost a runner on the outside, who came in and put another one in before we played five minutes."

From his deep-lying spot in front of his back three of Jack Kuelthau, Jackson Mares and Danny Sterba, Wesley was one of the main passing links between the backline and his midfield unit, offering short passing options or switching play across the pitch. Plus, he won tons of first- and second-balls on the day.

"We didn't hang out heads after conceding those early goals," said Wesley. “We probably had 80 percent of the ball the rest of the half and into the second half.

"But we didn't finish our chances and just didn't get it done like we had hoped to do.

"It's going to get real busy for us beginning on Monday. We've got to get ourselves back together and ready for a long stretch of games."

Sorce bagged the opener with his 11th of the season before the clock struck one minute. Then the senior, after classmate Ante Basan found him, provided a near-perfect ball out wide to Dzieranowski.

The senior, on the tail end of his terrific off-the-ball run on the right, did the rest with a sublime touch into the far inside netting at four minutes.

A nifty back-heel pass from Adrian Pasac forced Benet keeper Matthew Beaudoin to save an attempt from Basan in the 16th minute.

Moments later, Mehmeti drove a well-paced free kick into the wind where a brave punch from Beaudoin may have saved a third Dons goal as the ever-present Sorce was lurking at the back post.

"(Maybe) we could have put another one or two into the net after Seba's goal, but after that (the) ball was in our end for the rest of the half, and the guys had to really step up defensively," said Smith.

It was as if the ball were on a string as Benet used width, quick one-two passing and dominant possession in an attempt to pry open the Dons high line they played all afternoon.

"We allowed them to have the ball and just looked to keep them contained, because that's what they do best," said McNamara. “So, it was important for us to stay composed and organized, especially along the back.”

Benet overloaded one side of the park at times, often with Sergio Polanco and Mark Ndrio, while asking Mateo Pacha, Rustin Holubec and Wesley to find spaces to break the Dons press.

"They (Benet) are so good at keeping the ball, and getting a lot of guys involved in their attack,” said Smith. “But Jack (McNamara) did a great job of leading along the back, while Amir was so tough handling things in the middle for us."

"(Yes) we had almost all of the play after those two early goals," said Klosterman. “But Notre Dame has a great coach in Mike, and they had a great game plan today. That allowed them to weather the storm. We helped, because we just were not sharp enough in the final third.”

Sorce became more of withdrawn forward in the Notre Dame formation and added another player to win balls and disrupt the flow of play.

He sent a lovely early ball to Basan who sent a close-range attempt over the bar at 25 minutes.

Polanco halved the hosts’ deficit just before the half hour and could have equalized in the 37th minute if not for an aggressive and timely tackle from McNamara whose effort staved off a 1-v-1 attack.

Notre Dame captain McNamara dashed the hopes of the Redwings with a superb finish in the 68th minute to ensure the win.

Benet fought on. Wesley went wide after collecting a Polanco helper. Brendan Bergnach turned and forced Dons keeper Trent Davis to save his attempt moments later.

"We were a little tired in those last 5-6 minutes of the half from all of our defending and their constant attack," said Mehmeti. “But we knew we would have the wind in the second half, and we all felt confident we could hold the lead or maybe get another one.”

"At the half we talked about how we needed to continue to attack, and for our midfield to possess, create and hold the ball," offered Wesley. “We did a lot of that, but we were not as good as we needed to be either."

Davis saved a left-footed smash from Mathew Donaghey. Then the Dons allowed Wesley to tee up an effort from 35 yards, but it sailed over the bar.

Dzierzanowski and Sterba went off after the two were involved in a 50/50 challenge in the 52nd minute, however both returned near the hour.

Will Khazen had a go on frame for the home side, as did Bergnach and Ndrio. But after the Notre Dame duo of Adrian Pasic and William Suminski earned the visitors a corner, McNamara drove the stake in the heart of the Redwings.

He would break free of a crowd in the box to fade ever so slightly toward the back post where he met a Sorce serve that allowed him to redirect his header high into the upper part of the unguarded goal inside the far post.

"I always expect Joey to play a great ball in, so I just backed up a little to meet the ball coming in," said McNamara, who made it sound easier than it looked.

"There was a lot of fight in our game today. Benet made us work hard for 80 minutes, but we stayed under control and got some big goals when we needed them."

"Our backline was great today," said Mehmeti. “Trent was strong when we needed him to be, and guys like Seba (Dzierzanowski) gave 120 percent all day long.”

In the next 10 days, the Dons will finish up their regular-season with a trio of games against Carmel, Joliet Catholic and Marist at its Legends Field in Niles.
"To come into this place and win three straight is really something to be thrilled with," began Smith. “Especially today, when we knew a loss would end any chance of either sharing the conference championship or maybe even taking it outright.

"So many heroes out there today. The guys left it all out there today.

"We'll rest and train and get ready for three huge games at home."

Benet will regroup.

"It's obviously a disappointing result for us today, and Notre Dame is a very good team," began Klosterman.

"A lot of this is on us, because we did not make good decisions, were not clean when we needed to be. Even though we created several chances and were unlucky on a few of those, we just were not as good as we needed to be in the final third."

Benet (6-4-1, 2-1-0) welcomes Plainfield East, of the Southwest Prairie Conference, for a visit Monday.

Starting lineups

Notre Dame (4-4-2)
GK- Trent Davis
D- Adrian Pasic
D- Jack McNamara
D- Lorenzo Mancera
D- William Suminski 
M- Colin Sorce
M- Amir Mehmeti
M- Manny Panora-Garcia
M- Sebastian Dziernowski
F- Joey Sorce
F- Ante Basan

Benet (3-5-2)
GK- Matthew Beaudoin
D- Danny Sterba
D- Jackson Mares
D- Jack Kuelthau
M- Jack Wesley
M- Rustan Holubec
M- Mateo Picha
M- Sergio Polanco
M- Mathew Donaghey
F- Brendan Bergnach
F- Mark Ndrio

Chicagoland Soccer Men of the Match: Jack McNamara, sr., D, Notre Dame; Amir Mehmeti, sr., MF, Notre Dame

Scoring summary

First half
ND: J. Sorce (Dzierzanowski), 1'
ND: Dzieranowski (Basan, J. Sorce), 4'
B: Polanco (unassisted), 29'

Second half
ND: McNamara (J. Sorce), 68'