Spartans fall to Marmion in Wheaton
By Bill Stone

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Despite a fifth straight shutout by the Marmion soccer team Saturday at St. Francis, junior central defender Luke DeSimone wasn’t completely satisfied.

Ten minutes into the contest, the Spartans got a point-blank shot that would have given them the early lead, but goalie Brian Hymel made a huge stop.

“That could have been a goal and if we were down 1-0 early, it would have been real bad. It was great that (Hymel) came through in the clutch for us,” DeSimone said.

“After we saw that point-blank shot, we were like, ‘We’ve got to get going. We can’t give them those chances. It’s time to really lock down the defense and really get going.’ ”

The Cadets didn’t give up another serious shot and they went on to post a key 2-0 Suburban Christian Conference victory in Wheaton to set up Wednesday’s home showdown with Wheaton Academy in the final round of conference play with the outright title at stake.

Marmion (13-5-2, 7-0 in SCC) is 11-0-2 over its last 13 games and will first play Illinois Math and Science Academy Tuesday before facing Wheaton Academy (15-6, 7-0).

“It’s two very strong teams going at it. We had the same situation last year, actually both 6-0 going into (our game). We ended up losing in (penalty kicks 2-1) so this year we definitely want revenge and we’re going to be ready,” DeSimone said.

“We treated (St. Francis) as a semifinal for the conference. We knew it would be a big win, and we came out and we executed so I was proud of everyone.”

The Cadets took the lead on sophomore Gavin Sanchez’s ninth goal of the season, perhaps aided by muddy field conditions, with 20:01 left in the first half. Freshman and leading scorer Conor Morton tallied his 11th goal with 15:19 to play.

Hymel (5 saves), who made three saves in the first 10 minutes, earned his eighth 80-minute shutout of the season behind the defense of DeSimone, freshman Joe Duffield and junior outside defenders Jake Hutchison and Mick Wangler.

Marmion led 16-10 in shots and had the game’s lone corner kick.

“I’m proud of our boys. We got another shutout. Our defense has been strong as of late. And I liked this one because we showed a lot offensively,” Marmion coach Ricky Del Toro said.

“Wheaton Academy is the final (for the SCC), and that’s what we wanted. We got it now, and we want it. We’re going to play at home, we’re going to have a nice crowd, our boys are going to be pumped up for it and it should be a great game.”

St. Francis (10-8, 6-2) will finish third in the SCC. Marmion controlled the ball, but the Spartans came away with the best early scoring opportunities with three shots on goal from Brett Jungles and Michael Downs, whose point-blank shot in the center of the crease was stopped by Hymel.

“If you score, it really does turn into a whole different game,” said St. Francis coach Kristin Keigley, whose birthday was celebrated by her players after the game.

“We weren’t connected. We usually do very well with maintaining possession. (That is) just something we try to get the boys to get very comfortable with so that when we do get a scoring opportunity, it’s something we capitalize on. We want to keep possessions, keep our patience and then when it’s available, take a scoring chance when it’s the best chance. Today we did not maintain possession, we didn’t maintain our patience and a shutout is what Marmion gets with that.”

Many offenses have faced similar fates. This was the Cadets’ 10th shutout this season with nine coming during the current unbeaten streak.

With defense at such a premium, it’s no coincidence that DeSimone serves as one of the team captains along with senior center midfielder Matt Switzer.

“Luke is a leader in the back. As soon as I saw him from day one, I knew he was one of two players that had to play in the back,” said Del Toro, a first-year head coach. “He has been very strong with his leadership and his effort and his ability to control the ball and to really, really defend. It’s contagious with the other boys in the back and the goalkeeper. I think they’ve jelled very, very well.”

DeSimone understands the transition for his fellow defenders, especially freshman Duffield beside him. DeSimone not only was an underclassman on last year’s fourth-place Class 2A team but he transferred to Marmion after playing at Batavia freshman year.

“This year I knew it was going to be a big leadership role, playing center back and to really be communicating with everyone and running the defense,” DeSimone said.

“I didn’t have my strongest game (today), but I was really proud of how Joe Duffield played. He made up for a lot of my mistakes. And Jake and Mick were really able to shut down on the sides. Brian’s been a great keeper for us all year and he’s really vocal back there. He’s made some key saves.”

Saturday’s game was played on natural grass at the high school because of a scheduling conflict at Benedictine University, the Spartans’ usual home field with artificial turf. The field had a several rough spots, including a large patch of mud at midfield covering one of the 30-yard lines.

“Especially (on our defensive end) in the first half, there was just a big pile of mud right there,” St. Francis senior central defender Matt Shultz said. “That’s rough to deal with sometimes because it just gets stuck and you slip. But that’s part of the game. Sometimes you don’t play on good fields, no excuses.”

Sanchez scored on a rebound. He passed the ball down left wing to Flynn Collins who eluded a defender and took a shot that goalie Bobby Rozner stopped. As Morton converged on the ball from right wing, the ball squirted free to Sanchez, who punched the ball home.

“When we’re in that close, and we’re in the box like that, everybody knows to crash. (Sanchez has) done a great job, and he was in there at the right time to put it away,” Del Toro said.

“Since the ground was pretty bad, I anticipated that (the goalie) might bobble with the shot a little bit. (Morton is) hacking at it, and then the goalie just spits the rebound right to me and I was there to tap it in,” Sanchez said.

“(The field) wasn’t as bad as we thought because we just played on the Guerin Prep field (Tuesday). We had a 1-0 victory there mainly because of the condition of the field.  This was pretty much heaven compared to that so that was nice. I felt we adjusted pretty well to the condition of the field.”

Del Toro said the Cadets prepared to counter the field conditions by advancing the ball more in the air. Center midfielder Claudio Jasso made several excellent crosses to the front line, including one that set up the second goal.

From left wing, Trevor Jones passed back into the center of the field to Jasso. Jasso’s cross to the top of the box was controlled by Morton, who trapped the ball with his right foot and then immediately scored. Morton had just missed on other good scoring opportunities with 30 and 22 minutes left.

“At practice yesterday, we worked a lot on the flighted balls so they could get comfortable with the technique. (Jasso) played some great balls that were very, very dangerous,” Del Toro said.

Many other chances never materialized because of the Spartans’ aggressive defensive effort by Rozner, Shultz, freshman central defender Nick Roehl and senior Jason Bhatia, junior Joe Denny and freshman reserve Timmy Pisarski at outside defender.

The Cadets’ only other real threat in the first half came with just less than 31 minutes left when Rozner rushed out and used his leg to block a shot by Collins. The rebound eventually was headed by Jones over the goal.

Besides Morton’s two second-half misses, Marmion had two other great unsuccessful scoring chances after a two-goal lead from reserve Alex Lopez and Collins.

“Our defense has really done a lot for us this year and done a good job of making sure that they’ve been stepping up and staying organized and staying under control,” Keigley said.

Even with 12 seniors on their roster, the Spartans’ flat-back four defense is completely revamped, primarily since they also graduated nine seniors in 2011. The Spartans used current senior Matt Bonner at sweeper in last year’s playoffs behind a flat-back four, but this year Bonner is at forward with senior Remi Mifsud.

Shultz, a varsity backup last year, is in his third game back after being sidelined from a concussion when he collided with a teammate in a game against Plainfield Central Sept 18. He missed two weeks and six games.

“I was a little winded (against Wheaton Academy in returning Wednesday), but I think I’m on a solid trend going up. I love being back,” Shultz said.
 
“Our defense is really strong this year. Freshman Nick Roehl is really helping out back there and it’s great. We really embrace our role of shutting down the offense and doing that to the best of our abilities. It’s really working out because the chemistry’s good. It’s working out a lot better than a lot of people thought it would. We trust each other back there. We communicate with each other. I think that’s the key.”

What Keigley hoped the Spartans would have done better was get more defensive help from midfielders and for forwards to check back to get the ball.

Their only second-half shot on goal was a loft pass by Mifsud for Bonner that was swallowed by Hymel. With 14 minutes left, Bonner gave a nice through ball to a sprinting Mifsud with Duffield in hot pursuit, but Hymel also grabbed that ball first near the top of the crease.

“It was just a weird, messy game that is nothing like they’ve ever done this entire season,” Keigley said. “So we have lots of work to do this week and figure out what happened. Hopefully it was just that everyone was a little off and everyone was a little out of it.”

“I think the thing we need to take out of this game is sometimes teams have an off day, but we can’t really dwell on it,” Shultz added. “We just have to move past it and realize that we’re a really good team and sometimes good teams have off days.”