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2009 Preview: Benet By Curt Herron
Benet Academy's Henry Wind, who celebrates his 20th year as his school's lone coach in the sport, is no exception. That's why the veteran mentor is pretty upbeat about what his Redwings might be able to accomplish this season. Although Benet doesn't return a lot of starters from last year's 10-10 squad, Wind likes the mix of players that he has. "We've got some experienced kids and some talented kids," Wind said. "And we have some depth so we can rotate people around. "I like how the guys have bonded together in order to become a team. I also like their camaraderie and I think that's a key." With 29 players on the roster, including 11 seniors, 17 juniors and a sophomore, there figures to be plenty of competition. The key is for Wind to find the right mix of players to help the Redwings succeed against their usual challenging schedule. He'll start building things around a pair of seniors who figure to control things out of the midfield. "They'll be our leaders on offense and defense," Wind said of those seniors, George Elliott and Connor Miller. "Things will go through them offensively and on defense they'll communicate in order to keep people in the right place." Matt Dickey is another key senior who will also join Miller and Elliott in the midfield. Others who are also expected to see time in that part of the field are senior Zach Ozog and junior Brian Morefield. Another key senior returnee that the Redwings will be looking to is defender John Bagnuolo. He'll be joined in the back by senior Matt Stopka and juniors Joe Mahoney and Sean Mogan.
At forward, Wind expects to go with juniors Sean O'Hara and Brock Bieschke plus sophomore Hunter Miller, Connor's brother. The other senior members of the squad are John McLaughlin, Evan Rey-Olson, Connor Stevenson and John Vieni. "We've got enough talent so my job is to put it together," Wind said. "The key is for us to play together and to play better defense as a team. "We've worked hard in practice on ball movement and one- and two-touch. Even though we play a 4-4-2 alignment we're working hard at mixing it up."
Photos courtesy of Benet Academy |
2009 Roster
2009 Schedule
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Having plenty of depth as well as some versatility on a soccer team is a luxury that pleases most coaches.
Senior Alex Senetar gets the nod as starter in the net while junior Tony Auerbach will also see time there. 
