Familiar ground frustrating for Marmion
Burlington Central's late goal forces 2-2 tie

By Steve Nemeth
Photos courtesy of Annie Collins

From the Marmion perspective, the second round of group play could be summed up as “knot again.”

As frustrating as was the Cadets’ opener for the 17th Annual St. Charles East Varsity Invitational --- when a two-goal lead slipped into a 2-2 tie with Plainfield South --- Wednesday’s second round draw was even more anguishing.

Burlington Central scored with 1:15 left in regulation to produce another 2-2 deadlock that left Marmion with a 7-2-5 record.  Not only was it the fourth time this season coach Kevin O’Connor’s crew was unable to keep a second-half lead until the final whistle, it was the third consecutive tie in which the Cadets yielded the equalizer within the last 10 minutes.

“It’s déjà vu,” O’Connor said shaking his head in disbelief.  “If we’re a team to be reckoned with, we have to close out a game.  Yes we have some injuries, but that just means guys have to step up.  We had opportunities to close the game out.”

Perhaps what makes the sting doubly troubling is that Marmion showed some resolve in turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead.

Burlington Central (now 8-3-1) got on the board first when an errant Cadet boot was collected by Peter Jerger, whose through ball led Chris Gousios into a 1-v-1 with Marmion goalie Brad White.  The Rocket junior tucked the ball inside of the left post from seven yards out for a 1-0 BCHS lead in the 21st minute.

To their credit, Marmion didn’t wait long to respond.  In the 28th minute junior quint-captain Mick Maley displayed just the right touch in lofting a chip into space for Joe Romanos to then elude Rocket starting keeper Matt Dahlberg and tuck a five-yard tap-in into an empty net for his eighth goal of the year and 20th point.  The assist was Maley’s fifth and bumped his point total to 19.

With a little over three minutes remaining before halftime, the Cadets’ attack was knocking once again.  A wild scramble in front of the cage ended when Evan Lefelstein blasted home a six-yard strike for a 2-1 Marmion lead.

“I liked our process in the first half and what we did tells me we learned to play from behind.  Unfortunately we haven’t passed the test for holding a lead,” O’Connor lamented.  “Three times that’s been the case within the last 10 minutes.”

One of the most notable opportunities O’Connor was talking about came in the 70th minute when the Cadets had a direct free kick from just out the penalty box.  Maley curved a missile over the defensive wall and downward but Burlington Central second-half goalie Michael Parker made a solid catch.

Burlington Central’s Grant Stoneman saw Gousios streaking ahead on the left wing and his feed led to his seven-yard strike with 1:15 left to be played.

“Coach is always stressing the importance of the first 10 and the last 10 of every half,” Gousios explained.  “Out whole team stepped up its play and we started to have some give and go’s lead to opportunities.  Coming in from the (left) side I was thinking far post and when I noticed he (White) was leaning near post, I just tucked it inside the far one.”

Burlington Central coach Michael Gecan was elated to see the draw.

“We had a tough opener with (host school St. Charles) East and our starters logged a lot of minutes, so having a lot of guys off the bench make a difference today was a key,” Gecan said.  “Late in games we haven’t always played well, so to see us come back, scrape and claw like that, that’s something I want to see us do, particularly this time of year.”

And with the regular season heading toward a finish, it’s entirely possible the two teams could meet again with a lot more at stake since Marmion is assigned to the four-school Class 2A regional to be hosted by Burlington Central.

“I think it’s very likely we’ll see them again in regionals,” O’Connor added.  “Even though we practiced the idea of closing out a game, today tells me we have more things to work on.”

Junior quint-captain Mike Frasca, the Cadets point leader with 29 (11goals/7assists), was also stunned at the turn of events.

“I thought we were completely dominating them when we got the lead.  We fought from behind and wanted to get another goal and kept pushing for it,” Frasca said.  “But what we needed to do was lock it down so that we didn’t have another Plainfield South.  Unfortunately, we lost our composure in the 78th minute.”

Ironically, all is not lost for Marmion or anyone else in the Black Division thanks to the tourney format which awards six points for a win, three for a tie, one for a shutout and one per goal up to a maximum of three per match.  Thanks to a 4-1 win over St. Charles East Wednesday, Plainfield South leads the group with 14 points, Marmion is second with 10, the Saints have eight, and Burlington Central has seven.

Thursday’s slate has Plainfield South meeting Burlington Central while Marmion faces host St. Charles East.  On Saturday, the finishers from the Black Division play their Orange Division counterparts to determine seventh through first place.

The Orange Division isn’t decided either since Plainfield Central’s 1-0 win versus Glenbard North vaulted them to 17 points and right over GNHS (10 points).  Lockport’s similar 1-0 triumph over Wheaton St. Francis gives the Porters eight points while WSF has five.