Chloe Sentman has played all over the field during her four-year varsity career at Benet.
But Sentman was right where the Redwings needed her to be during the Class 3A Metea Valley Regional championship game on Friday. More importantly, she was where she wanted to be.
That’s why Sentman felt confident when she strode to the penalty spot with a chance to win the game.
“I know that we have a lot of really talented girls on our team,” she said. “So I had the utmost faith that they were going to do what they do, and in the end, I had to do what I had to do.”
The Redwings and host Mustangs were tied 3-3 in a shootout when Sentman, a senior who had never attempted a penalty kick in a high school game, stepped forward with a chance to win it.
“Knowing that no matter the outcome, I would have my team standing behind me, I was not nervous at all,” she said. “I had my spot. I picked it when I walked up there, and I just put it there.”
Sentman calmly fired her shot into the upper-right corner of the net to give eighth-seeded Benet a stunning 1-0 victory over top-seeded Metea Valley.
Junior midfielder Ivana Vukas, freshman midfielder Ashley Polanco and senior defender Meghan Sarros also scored in PKs for the Redwings (14-6-2), who advance to play either fourth-seeded Naperville North or fifth-seeded Oswego in the Naperville North Sectional semifinals at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
“You talk about a four-year varsity player who has been with us for so long,” Benet coach Gerard Oconer said of Sentman. “She wanted this moment, and she’s earned it because she’s done all the dirty work for us, a lot of times goes unrecognized, but she just goes about her business.
“The thing with Chloe is that you know that she’s steady — not going to get too high, not going to get too low. So you know you can count on her when the pressure is on.”
Sentman’s kick released that pressure. She turned around and sprinted into the arms of her teammates, touching off an unexpected celebration. The Mustangs (13-6), who got goals from junior midfielder Mckenna Wigfield, senior midfielder Olivia Hernandez and senior forward Isabelle Leofanti in PKs, beat Benet 3-0 on March 20.
“It was a really good feeling, especially since I feel the score of the game when we played them earlier didn’t do justice to the team that we are,” Sentman said. “Obviously, they are a phenomenal team, but I think tonight we really proved that we can hang with them.”
That regular-season meeting was Sentman’s second game at defensive midfielder, a new position for her. She was a forward as a freshman and a defender for the next two seasons. When incumbent defensive midfielder Megan Bergman opted not to play this season, Oconer turned to Sentman.
“It is definitely very physically demanding, which I wasn’t used to,” Sentman said. “But I would be able to be involved a lot more.”
Sentman rose to the challenge from the get-go. But midway through this season, Oconer opted to use two defensive midfielders instead of one.
“Chloe was so good at the beginning of the season, but we wanted to make sure that she survived the whole season,” Oconer said. “That’s the difference between this game and the first game.
“We knew Metea would really have a good run at it in midfield, and we had to neutralize that, so just having that extra body in the middle helped. The plan worked.”
Indeed, Vukas moved into the midfield to help Sentman contain the Mustangs, who were shut out for only the third time this season.
Benet junior goalkeeper Giada McGlynn, who made eight saves in regulation and two overtimes and one more in the shootout, was not surprised by Sentman’s effectiveness.
“She is our leading aggressor,” McGlynn said. “I mean, if a ball is coming back or somebody gets beat on defense, she’s hauling it. She gets there. She wants to help make sure I’m not 1v1.”
McGlynn was confident when Sentman went one-on-one against Metea Valley senior goalkeeper Aarna Raghavapudi, who stopped Benet’s previous shooter to keep her team alive.
“I knew going up there she had it,” McGlynn said.
It was all in a day’s work for Sentman, who is determined to get the job done no matter what position she plays.
“It’s been difficult moving around, but my coaches have instilled a lot of confidence in me, and moving forward, I know that we have a lot of girls who switch around a lot,” she said. “We’re just such a fluid group that no matter where anybody is, we can connect.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
