Benet Academy girls lacrosse beats Lincoln Way for third Sectional Championship in four years

One seed Benet Academy girls lacrosse takes Lincoln-Way Co-op for an IHSA Sectional Championship.  After beating The Valley, Benet enters their fourth consecutive sectional finals match, while Lincoln-Way took down Naperville North. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.

Benet girls lacrosse takes a one goal lead into the second quarter

The action gets going early on as Tierra Hammock pushes towards the net and finds Claire O’Brien who gets the Redwings flying with a shot over the goalie to give Benet the 1-0 edge.  

Lincoln-way would respond as Riley Drzewiecki goes behind the net and finds Kayley Palmer wide open who puts it through. Lincoln-way is on the board and we’re tied at one.  

Then off the penalty restart, Palmer strikes again with a quick goal down low, putting Lincoln-way in front up 2-1.  

Benet comes right back on the ensuing possession as Madeleine Trapp finds Madison Timmons who scores top shelf to tie the game back up at two.  

Now with seconds left in the first, Peyton O’Neill receives the ball and scores the buzzer-beater as the Redwings shoot back in front, up 3-2.  

Lincoln-Way Co-Op is hanging in the game with Benet leading by two at the half

In the second with Benet going in the other direction, the quick passing results in O’Brien getting the ball and putting it in again over the goalie’s head to double Benet’s lead over Lincolnway.  

On defense, Benet starts to stiffen up.  Drzewiecki passes it to Palmer who tries another quick shot but Madeline Jensen makes a great save to prevent a Lincolnway score! 

Benet would take the momentum on offense as Hammock pushes her way up the middle through the defense, then shoots low past the goalie. It extends the Redwings lead to 5-2.  

Right before the half, however, Lincolnway strikes back off the restart with Drzewiecki scoring, as Benet leads 5-3 at halftime.  

Redwings start to pull ahead thanks to Jensen in goal and a prolific offense

In the second half, Benet’s defense stands tall.  On the penalty shot, Jensen stops a quick strike from Elyse DeFrank, then a bit later with Palmer outmaneuvering the defense, she stops another one-on-one attempt to keep Lincolnway scoreless in the third.  

 Now up 6-3 Hammock races towards the net on a penalty restart, and puts it through to make it a four goal lead for the Redwings.  

Also getting involved is Gigi Kurelko who gets the pass and pushes her way towards the net.  She takes the shot as she’s hit but gets it through to give Benet an 8-3 lead.  

Then on the ensuing faceoff, Shannon Earley puts the wings in overdrive as she wins it and races down the other way. She scores to give the Redwings a six goal lead.   

Benet girls lacrosse wins Sectional final for the third time in four years

The second-half onslaught continues for Benet as Kurelko gets the quick pass from Simmons to put it in. Benet reaches double digits up, 10-4.  

Then to put the game out of reach, Earley once again outraces everyone to the other side, and with three Lincolnway defenders around her, she still gets it in for another goal.  Both teams would exchange more goals later but Benet wins the Sectional title with a 13-5 victory over Lincolnway Co-op.  Benet advances to the Supers-Actionals for the third time in the past four years as they’ll play Lockport in the Supersectionals on Tuesday evening.