Chicagoland Soccer

Cadets beat Lakes in OT to advance to first-ever Final Four

Maley-Frasca combo clicks twice as Marmion rallies to win DeKalb Super-Sectional

By Steve Nemeth

Since history was made on Tuesday with Marmion Academy’s 2-1 overtime victory over Lakes, every post-match statement reflected just what an emotional high the night was for all of the Cadets after their first-ever super-sectional triumph.

“This is a shining moment in the history of our program,” coach Kevin O’Connor told his troops during a post-match huddle.

“I can’t thank you enough and express how proud you’ve made me. This program is the world to me, and you know I love each and every one of you like my own son. But just remember, we’re not done yet!”

Marmion (19-6-3) now has a Friday 1:00 pm Class 2A semifinal contest against Chatham Glenwood, one of the state’s tradition-rich programs which claimed a AA state crown in 2005 after having taken fourth in 2003.

The Titans (16-5-2) were 3-1 victors in Tuesday's Illinois-Springfield Super-Sectional against Springfield.

It’s a situation that prompted Marmion’s administration to promise classes will be dismissed early on Friday so that a caravan of buses can get students to Lincoln-Way North in Frankfort for the state semifinal match.

But before the Cadets could move beyond the DeKalb Super-Sectional – a level Marmion had reached on three previous occasions (losing to Freeport in 2009, Dixon in 2002 and Geneva in 2001) – Mick Maley had to live up to his halftime vow.

The Northwestern-bound senior did so in dramatic fashion netting his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season, thanks to set-ups by Mike Frasca, who registered his 16th and 17th assists.

“At halftime, Mick Maley told our team, ‘I’m not gonna let us lose.’ That’s what a leader, a captain, and a tremendous all-state player does,” O’Connor stated.

“He willed us to jump on his back, jump on Mike Frasca’s back, jump on Alex Ruble’s, jump on Brad White’s back. He willed us to this victory and again, I can’t say enough about him.

“Technically, he had a hat trick,” O”Connor added with a touch of his Irish humor.

There was only 1:21 left before halftime when Lakes’ Zach Reimer booted the ball netward hoping to find a teammate or get a fortunate bounce when it glanced off Maley’s head and into the net to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

”It hit my head and I felt I should I have gotten to it better (for a block), but I wasn’t going to let us lose the game on that,” Maley insisted. “Right now that’s out of my mind because we won the game and that’s all that matters.”

One of the goals that mattered the most for Marmion came with 18:17 remaining in regulation when Frasca’s cross enabled Maley to blast an 18-yarder from left of center past Eagles keeper Will Hill.

“The goalie was shading near post, so I just let the ball run across to me and just put it in the back of the net where he wasn’t,” Maley said.

Not long after Marmion’s faithful had finally settled back into routine cheering, the emotional roller-coaster was a like sock in the gut as a tackle-from-behind resulted in Lakes receiving a penalty kick opportunity.

The Eagles’ Kyle Neeve went to his left on the PK attempt and that’s exactly where Cadet goalie White figured he should dive.

Even with seven clean sheets on his resume, the senior had to admit having his name chanted was as sweet as any of his shutouts.

“Just the way he approached the ball, the way he lined up and the speed with which he approached the ball, it’s all pretty formulated between what they do and what I’m going to do. Once I thought he was going that way and I dove, the save was the easy part for me,” White said, resisting the notion that there was extra pressure on him.

“I had faith in my team that no matter what would happen, we’d still come back and win. But I’m obviously glad to have contributed (that save).”

It was actually the fifth and last stop White would make in a contest with Marmion owning an 12-10 edge in overall attempts but a 7-5 advantage for shots on goal.

The Cadets then made an adjustment that paid the ultimate dividend just 1:56 into the initial of four potential golden goal overtime sessions.

“Notice what we did in overtime: we moved Frasca up top, put him out on the wing,” O’Connor explained. “We figured if he got a one-on-one against their outside back, we liked those chances a lot. If he didn’t, we really thought because we had two other strikers up top, Mick could find a lane.”

It may not have been much of a lane, but Maley used the exact angle needed to bury an 11-yarder from the left wing into the far upper corner for the match-winner.

“I got the pass from Frasca, cut it back, and even though it was only my second shot of the game, I just hit it and got it to the back of the net,” Maley recounted. “I saw it go into the upper corner and I don’t remember anything after that. I can’t describe that feeling!”

The senior soon felt the weight of his teammates dog-piling on top of him after he raced back toward the Marmion fans who hit their highest crescendo of cheering.

“(Frasca and Maley) they’re the two most dangerous players, having them up top would create an opportunity for us,” O’Connor added.

“And what happened? The ball got played out to Frasca, he was patient enough not to try to take it on his own against two or three defenders, and like we thought and told Mick, he’d get a chance, just don’t rush it.

“Mick played the second half very impatient in the first 20 minutes,” O’Connor continued. “He wanted to just win the game by himself. (From the sideline) we’re preaching to Mick, ‘just relax, relax, relax, slow it down’. Once he did that, his touches where clean again, and not too surprisingly he got both goals.”

And Marmion got the Final Four berth that the Cadets have been seeking since O’Connor initially founded the program in 1994.

As several players have described as the squad’s mission, the 253rd win at the Academy and the 302nd all-time as a head coach now mean that O’Connor’s announced retirement will not come until sometime Saturday.

“With all the alumni from past seasons that were here (tonight), and just to be the ones that finally made it to state is unbelievable,” said Frasca, who now has 99 points for the year off a team-best 41 goals plus 17 assists.

“It’s an honor to play for coach (O’Connor), it’s an honor to play for the alumni, it’s an honor to play with my teammates; it’s just a great feeling. I’m just ecstatic right now.”

It was a sentiment echoed by White.

“This is unbelievable in so many ways and means so much,” White stated. “For all the alumni who have gotten so close and just couldn’t get past this one (super-sectional), it’s the fourth time to this stage but the first time to get through, and this being coach’s last year, I can’t think of anything better. Words just can’t express how special tonight is.”

O’Connor did his best to explain it during his post-match interviews.

“I guess at this point, I couldn’t write the script any better. If it's storybook stuff, we’ll take it, but I hope the story has a couple more chapters in the win column.”