Marmion's strong start the difference vs. Bolingbrook

By Darryl Mellema

For an opening to its final match in the Pepsi Showdown, Marmion could hardly have done better.

Within 12 minutes, the Cadets were ahead 2-0, and they maintained that momentum throughout the first half. But a Bolingbrook penalty kick early in the second half rocked Marmion on its heels and the second half became a nervy exercise with the Cadets just surviving with their 2-1 victory intact.

“We started off pretty strong,” Marmion senior defender Steve Anderson said. “We were missing a couple of our key players so that was good. I started at forward instead of defense, and we started well.”

Max Rosenfelder gave the Cadets the lead from a free kick. Then Rosenfelder fed Mike Frasca who ran in and scored to give Marmion a strong lead early in the match.

“We’ve been working on hustling a lot, and the second goal was a tribute to that,” Anderson said. “We started off really strong. But once we started on that downward slope, we struggled to control things.”

Bolingbrook got back into the match when a penalty kick was called three minutes into the second half. Alex Cruz scored from that penalty kick and the momentum shifted almost immediately.

“We gave up the early one in the second half,” O’Connor said. “We played back on our heels for 20 minutes and then we started playing again. Once they scored, our whole mentality changed. You can’t do that.”

Bolingbrook (3-7) nearly tied the game moments after the corner kick but Arturo Cruz hit sent his shot wide. With just under 10 minutes to play Arturo Cruz had another scoring chance, but hit the side netting. Even in the final moments of play, Bolingbrook pressured the Cadets defense but was unable to score.

“I’m not going to use any excuses,” O’Connor said. “We allowed them to get back into the game. That’s a trait that’s going to bring a lot of dangerous outcomes for us. And that’s something we need to work on.”

Even though Bolingbrook kept pressure on Marmion’s defense, that defense did work throughout the half to put itself back together again. And the Cadets did manage to keep a clean sheet the rest of the way, no matter how shaky things seemed at times.

“As soon as they got the PK, I turned to my guys on the bench and said ‘we have to win this game 2-1,’” O’Connor said. “We did. We found a way. However, our keeper (Evan Lefelstein) had to come up huge twice.

Marmion always plays a challenging tournament schedule. The Cadets are perennial attendees at Barrington’s early-season tournament and then participants in the Pepsi Showdown.

The experience of the four matches at the Showdown has been particularly good, according to O’Connor. The Cadets finished 2-1 in pool play, losing to eventual semifinalist Morton while defeating Andrew and Mt. Carmel.

“It tells us that we’re capable of playing some very good soccer, as we displayed against Andrew and Morton. We played some very good soccer and I thought we displayed that the first half (against Bolinbrook.)”

“I think we showed that we are a team that lacks consistency, especially finishing in the final third. That was displayed against Morton, Mt. Carmel and in the second half (Saturday.) But it showed us we can be a decent team, though we have some things to work on.”

Men of the match: Matt Switzer, Steve Anderson, and Mike Maley

By Darryl Mellema

When put under serious pressure in the second half, Marmion needed to find some resiliency. And in Matt Switzer, Steve Anderson, and Mike Maley the Cadets found some steel as other players faded in and out of the match.

“I thought those three guys, for the most part, were very solid,” Marmion coach Kevin O’Connor said.

On the field, Marmion worked to regain control.

“They had their chances, but we did OK settling it down,” Anderson said. “We were limited in our chances in the second half. But the good thing is that everything can be improved upon. We can improve on our mistakes.”