Spartans show well in loss to Marian Central

By Gary Larsen

Teams feeding into the Class 2A Wheaton Academy sectional will take the No. 8 seed lightly at their own risk.

St. Francis might have fallen to 5-10 overall with Thursday’s 2-1 loss to Marian Central Catholic, but the Spartans showed throughout that they’re fixing to peak with the season’s window closing.

Marian Central beat both Marmion and Wheaton Academy in shootouts this year, and is one win away from taking the Suburban Christian Conference crown.

“That’s a tough team and they fought hard,” Marian coach Kristian Rockall said of the Spartans. “They’re one of the best oppositions we’ve seen this season and they nearly beat us. We just kept with it.”

St. Francis took its lumps over the last two weeks, playing rock-solid Class 2A programs in Marmion and Wheaton Academy, plus four consecutive games against Class 3A programs.

But the Spartans followed Tuesday’s 8-0 pounding of St. Edward by giving Marian Central all it could handle. A rough schedule aimed at getting them ready for the postseason run is now beginning to pay off for the Spartans.

“It’s tough when you’re losing but we’re getting better every game,” Spartans’ defender TJ Kliebhan said. “Our coaches are acknowledging that. And no matter how many (regular season) games we lose, we can still achieve our goal.”

 That’s what we did last season. We stacked our (regular) season and came up with our first postseason win since, I think, 2005. This year we’re looking to be regional champs. That’s been the goal since Day One.”

With St. Francis head coach Kristin Keigley absent due to parent-teacher conferences, assistant coach Brian Hill watched his side show well on Senior Night.

”In the second half, I thought we dominated,” Hill said. “It seemed like the whole second half I was looking (at the Spartans’ offensive third).”

The expansive artificial surface at Benedictine University played a role in the Spartans’ strong second-half attack. “I told them to play the field,” Hill said. “We played a lot more through-balls so we could run onto it more, because there’s so much space to run.”

The game’s first two goals came two minutes apart, in the 5th and 7th minutes. From midfield, the Spartans’ Nick Konchel swooped in alone on net in the 5th minute and struck from 16 yards out, and Marian’s Anthony Myers located a loose ball near the goalmouth and scored, after a Hurricane’s corner kick.

That’s the way the scoreboard stayed for roughly the next 70 minutes, but a whole lot of hard-fought soccer took place in between. The Hurricanes hit a post and a crossbar in the first half, and forced Suerte to make no less than three diving stops to swat balls over the end line.

The Spartans’ Wes Dorman chipped a great chance over a charging goalkeeper, but sent it high of net, teammate Michael Vale hit a ball off the post late in the contest, and St. Francis earned 7 corner kicks on the night.

The ooohs, aaahs, and almosts of the sport filled Thursday’s game. “We had our opportunities,” Hill said.

The play of the game – unfortunately for the Spartans – took place off the foot of Marian Central’s Zack Radwanski. Posted up in the penalty area with two defenders on his back, Radwanski received a pass, popped it up, spun, and wind-milled a shot to the back netting from 12 yards out.

In the game’s 68th minute, Radwanski effectively earned Marian the win.

“He’s obviously their best player, and we had two guys on his back,” Kliebhan said of Radwanski. “It was a great turn by him. A great shot.”

“That’s a great goal,” Rockall said. “(Radwanski) fends off pressure really well, he’s got quick feet, and he needs half a yard and he’ll put it in the back of the net. He has scored in just about every game for us this season.”

The game’s stretch run saw the Spartans press for an equalizer, with Vale hitting the far post on a Konchel cross in the 72nd minute.

Defenders Kliebhan, Joe Cox, Matt Bonner, Kyle Bhatia, Perry Poulos and company fought tooth-and-nail throughout, and keeper Ryan Suerte played solidly in net.

Starting center mids Drew Mascari and David Kaminky battled well against the SCC-leading Hurricanes, as the boys in the Spartans’ attack played with energy.

“Mikey Vale and Andres Pena worked really hard, and so did Wes Dorman on the outside. Our guys on the outside were making those runs, so that was nice,” Hill said. “and Joe (Cox) left with an injury but he was winning a lot of fifty-fifty balls for us.”

“It was the atmosphere, that’s for sure. They just picked it up. We put the seniors out there and they played well. They responded to the crowd. It’s just hard to keep losing these close games. We’ve got to start winning them.”