Chicagoland Soccer

Marmion cruises past Belvidere at SC East
By Bill Stone

When Ricky Del Toro took over as the Marmion Academy’s varsity boys soccer coach in June, he got an early look at his new players during summer league play.

Although the Cadets were graduating about half of their starting lineup after finishing fourth in Class 2A, Del Toro soon realized there was a talented group of incoming freshmen.

“I have them for the next four years, which I’m very excited to about. I hope they are, too, because I think by their junior, senior year, watch out,” Del Toro said.

Five freshmen currently are on the varsity, and defender Joe Duffield and forward Conor Morton have been making impacts as starters since the season began.

On Wednesday, Morton scored three goals and Duffield helped the defense record its fifth shutout of the season as the Cadets rolled past Belvidere 7-0 in the second round of the St. Charles East Tournament.

Sophomore Gavin Sanchez scored twice and juniors Flynn Collins and Jack Maley also scored for Marmion (8-5-1). Collins, Sanchez, Peter West and Alex Lopez each had an assist in the win.

The starting defense of senior goalie Brian Hymel (2 saves), interior defenders Duffield and junior Luke DeSimone and junior outside defenders Jack Hutchison and Mick Wangler had a relatively quiet game as the Cadets led 32-3 in shots.

Freshmen Dolan Hunt, Quinn Turcich and Tim Wheeler were among the numerous reserves that played after the Cadets opened a 3-0 halftime lead by the 27th minute and 5-0 advantage by the 55th minute.

“It’s pretty surprising that I get to play all of the time, and even making the team in the first place is fun,” Duffield said. “I think it’s a really big privilege. Sometimes it’s really hard because you have to work up an entire level and there’s all of the conditioning you have to do to get fit for the game. (But) getting to start is real good.”

Morton and Duffield, already simply known as Duff by teammates, don’t play like freshmen nor do they necessarily look like them. Both over 6 feet tall, they’re already among the tallest players in the lineup along with senior center midfielder Claudio Jasso.

“Conor especially is very good on the ball. He shows a lot of confidence and that’s a player that we need,” Del Toro said. “(Duffield) is one of the fastest players on this team as a freshman. He’s good on the ball. I think he can get better, but the (freshmen) kids are only 14 years old.”

Marmion will have to step up as a group Thursday when it plays the host Saints on the Norris Stadium field at 7 p.m. with a berth in Saturday’s championship game on the line.

St. Charles East is 2-0 in pool play after beating Plainfield South 6-0 Wednesday. Marmion is 1-0-1 because Monday’s pool game with Plainfield South was a scoreless tie after lightning halted the game midway through the first half and it was unable to be continued. St. Charles East played a complete game later that night and beat Belvidere 8-0.

Marmion is on a 6-0-1 run since five consecutive losses to start the season.

“(St. Charles East) will be a great test for our boys,” Del Toro said. “It’s a quality team. They’re very quick and hopefully our boys come out and compete and play well, and we have the players to do that.

“We’re doing everything well, except getting a result against some top-quality team. That would be good for us if we get a good result tomorrow.”

On Wednesday, Belvidere (2-10-3) chose to play with the fierce wind at its back for the first half. The Cadets quickly negated the advantage as Morton scored twice in the first 4 1/2 minutes by exploiting his speed against the Bucs’ flat-back defensive line trying for offsides traps.

“We got the quick goals and that settled us down just a little bit,” Del Toro said. “It’s tough, going a little bit uphill, and going against the wind, it’s tough to maneuver the ball.”

Morton’s speed made a difference. He outran a Belvidere defender to a through ball from Sanchez at the 28-yard line and went in on goal. Morton’s first shot was saved, but he put home the rebound.

Less than a minute later, Morton ran down another Sanchez through ball at the 35 and converted the breakaway.

“(My teammates) put really nice balls over here. I just kind of watched the ball and stayed (onside) with the defense,” Morton said. “It was easier to shoot kind of (into the wind) because the ball got more curve on it and it was harder to get.”

Morton’s third goal of the game opened a 4-0 lead in the 53rd minute. He took a left-wing cross from Collins near the upper-left corner of the box with his back to the goal. He then quickly turned and unleashed a left-footed diagonal blast.

“It’s really fun. It’s been a great privilege to play on varsity as a freshman. I get a lot of touches on the ball, get to start,” Morton said. “I was really surprised because as a freshman you don’t really expect to make varsity and you just feel great to be on the team.”

Despite being hampered by a hamstring injury earlier this season, Morton already has eight goals on the season.
“He’s our striker. He’s supposed to be scoring goals and he’s doing that,” Del Toro said.

The Marmion defense had the two-goal cushion before Belvidere put its first shot on goal in the ninth minute, a 40-yarder by Chris Horteales that rolled to Hymel. Horteales’ free kick from midfield right at Hymel in the 15th minute turned out to be the Bucs’ last shot on goal.

“It was hard to clear the ball (in the first half) because you couldn’t get the ball in the air because it would just come back to you,” Duffield said.

“Then it was really hard to judge balls in the air, trying to head it. If it went straight up, it would just come back at you. It was really hard to play balls across the field because they would get blown backwards.”

Such was the case in the second half. The final two goals came from Maley from 26 yards in the 67th minute when the Bucs couldn’t clear the ball, and Sanchez in the 74th minute after he stole the ball following a short goal kick.

By contrast, Sanchez’s first goal was a result of pure hustle by Collins, dribbling the ball roughly 40 yards down the left sideline and surging by and around defenders to make his cross. Collins scored in the first half off a pass by West off a blocked shot.

Junior Eddie Graham nearly scored in the final minute, but his blast caromed off the crossbar.

Hymel’s second half consisted of snuffing out two crosses in the crease by Horteales under no distress.

“It was mostly standing (on defense in the second half),” Duffield said.

For Duffield, an important part of this season has been watching. Duffield said he enjoyed seeing last year’s Cadets play once during their state playoff run, and now he’s learning a lot from the returnees of that squad.

“Watching the older kids play really helps because I can model what I do after that. It makes my game better and the team’s game better,” Duffield said.