Frasca's smart play helps lift Cadets past Spartans

By Chris Walker

St. Francis switched from a stopper-sweeper to a flat-back defensive alignment under new coach Kristin Keigley this season.

But it's a good bet that no defensive scheme could've stopped a sharp play by Marmion Academy's Mike Frasca during Thursday's match in Wheaton.

Frasca was awarded a direct free kick in the 29th minute and while the Spartans were in the midst of creating a wall, with a few players no more than 10 yards from the ball, Frasca caught them by surprise.

The Cadet junior blasted a shot past the abridged wall that eluded goalkeeper Ryan Suerte.

That goal was all the Cadets would need as they shut out the Spartans 2-0 in a Suburban Christian Conference match.

"I really was pleased with how we played," Marmion coach Kevin O'Connor said.

"St. Francis has a lot of good athletes, very good athletes, and they have a lot of speed and some of that speed scared me and I let the guys know that."

Unfortunately for the Spartans, they weren't quick enough to respond to the brainy play by Frasca.

"The referee told (St. Francis) to back up because they were too close to the ball," O'Connor said.

"But it was a smart play by Mike Frasca, a very intelligent player, and we caught them off guard."

Frasca's goal couldn't have come at a better time for the Cadets as they had numerous opportunities to score in the first half but weren't able to capitalize.

Marmion outshot St. Francis 12 to 3 in the first 40 minutes and had a handful of near-scores.

One of those came on a nifty give-and-go from Frasca and Mick Maley and another on a beautiful feed from Maley to Frasca whose shot banged off the right post.

"It seems like it's always been a problem at Marmion with finishing goals," Frasca said. "Last year we did a pretty good job and tonight we hit the post twice and had so many missed opportunities."

Marmion (7-2-3) may have not finished as many of its scoring opportunities as it would have liked, but the Cadets did their part in controlling the pace of the game while shutting down the Spartans.

"We started off playing too forward and now we're connecting and working together better," Marmion sophomore midfielder Matt Switzer said.

"Maley and Frasca are such good players and (Alex) Ruble and Juan Pablo (Jasso) were so strong in back today."

This Switzer kid is awfully good, too.

"I though Matt Switzer's vision on the field was outstanding," O'Connor said. "And those guys in back, Antonio Ortiz, Rodrigo Fernandez and Alex Ruble, were all very, very solid."

They certainly made things difficult on a St. Francis team that's two-thirds through a tough week in which they've been outscored 8-2.

The Spartans face Illinois Math & Science Academy, a team they tied last season, on Saturday morning.

"The boys' playing has been off this week and this has just been a bad week for us," St. Francis coach Kristin Keigley said. "They are over-thinking this week and it's showing in their play."

St. Francis (4-5) did frustrate the Cadets at times defensively, which kept the Spartans in the contest until Maley dribbled through the center of the field and tacked on an insurance goal from 17 yards out.

"We feel confident moving forward because of Switzer, Joe Romanos and Frasca in the game," Maley said.

"It really could've been bigger than a 2-0 game, but we're happy with just being able to create opportunities and hopefully more will start dropping for us."

Junior defender Perry Poulos helped keep the Spartans within striking distance for close to 70 minutes as the Spartans continue to gain experience with the flat-back four defense.

While the Spartans executed their game plan well at times, they did fall back on some old tendencies.

"Sometimes we still revert back to it and Perry sometimes wanders a bit too much," Keigley said.

"One of the thorns about (the new defense) is that we still have some breakdowns and that's unfortunate because you're going to drop some games in the process of learning it."

The Spartans came closest to breaking the shutout with 1:18 remaining, but Marmion goalkeeper Evan Lefelstein denied Nick Konchel's attempt with a great one-handed deflection.