Cadets beat Rockets to move to 1-0-1 in St. Charles E. Invite

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By Steve Nemeth

As far as Mike Frasca, Mick Maley and the rest of their teammates on Marmion Academy were concerned, there was no better time to do some editing to an all-too familiar story than Wednesday’s second round of group play in the St. Charles East Invitational.

Instead of a pen, Frasca set up Maley for a pair of goals within the first six minutes of the second half to rewrite at least the Burlington Central portion of their tournament story with a 3-1 victory. Appreciating the Cadets’ victory requires a little historical review.

Last season, just after an 0-2-2 showing at the Barrington Classic, Marmion figured it was on the right track heading to the St. Charles East Invitational with a four-match win streak.

The Cadets boasted a 2-0 halftime lead in their group-play opener against Plainfield South when things took a turn and the match ended in a 2-2 deadlock.

Then came a second-round contest in which Marmion sported a one-goal halftime lead against Burlington Central only to yield a last-minute goal for another 1-1 draw.

Despite improved effort on the field, the Cadets lost to the host Saints and then got tagged with another tie to complete the tourney followed by yet another loss for a five-match winless stretch.

Now return to the present: After going 0-3-1 in the 23rd version of the Barrington tourney, coach Kevin O’Connor’s current crew put together a four-match win streak ahead of the 2011 St. Charles East Invite.

Monday’s group-play opener was once again against Plainfield South and the Cadets were up at half and even entering the final minute of play. But in the last 30 seconds, a late goal produced a 1-1 draw. Suddenly it was déjà blue for Marmion.

In all-too-familiar fashion, the Cadets ended the opening half of a round two meeting with Burlington Central up by a single goal. Hence the point where Frasca, Maley and Company finally said “Been there, not going to do that again.”

Just two minutes into the second half, Frasca found Maley in position for the kind of second-half start almost every coach loves. Of course there are those who believe 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in soccer.

So four minutes later, the Frasca and Maley combination clicked again.

“It was unfortunate enough that we gave up a goal in the last 30 seconds to tie Plainfield again, there was no way we were going to have another tie with Burlington,” Frasca insisted.

Teammate Matt Switzer echoed that sentiment during the post-game interviews.

“Right from the bus ride here, everyone remembered exactly how last year went, everyone wanted to beat them,” Switzer said, only half eluding to the St. Charles East tourney.   

The other bit of history between the two programs is that they had a rematch later in 2010 with much more at stake.

Despite trying to wait out a rainstorm, lightning eventually forced postponement of the regional championship finale from Saturday to Monday and that’s when the Rockets pulled out a 1-0 victory that ultimately launched them to a fourth-place Class 2A finish.

That memory was a more likely motivator for Marmion.

“I thought we finally got 80 minutes of intensity,” O’Connor noted. “From start to finish, mentally we were very sharp. Considering how fast Burlington Central is and the windy conditions, I thought we did a really good job in terms of possession.”

Marmion certainly started stronger in terms of opportunities and was the first to cash in off a corner kick by Switzer in the 22nd minute. Frasca headed it home from six yards out.

“That first goal was completely Switzer,” Frasca said in deferring credit. “Back during two-a-days, we spent four whole practices working on nothing but set pieces. Every time we didn’t finish, we had to run. So now it’s just a matter of continuing to go hard to net knowing Switzer will deliver.”

In addition to being his 21st goal of the season, it marked the seventh consecutive match in which the senior quad-captain has tallied a goal. His two second-half set-ups moved him into a tie with Maley for the team lead in assists with eight. The two strikes by Maley boosted his season total to 13 goals.

Since O’Connor has come to expect that kind of production from those two, he was most pleased to see contributions from other Cadets.

“I thought all of our guys in back played really well. (Alex) Ruble really did a good job of organizing the back. I thought Switzer was terrific in midfield.  He just makes so many people miss and he connects so many passes, which solidifies our possession game very, very well,” O’Connor added.

“I also thought Joe Romanos and Luke Elder worked exceptionally hard up top.  That second goal (after halftime) was the result of Joe and Luke’s strong play in the box. This is the best game that Joe and Luke have played together and yet neither one of them scored, neither one of them got an assist.”

From the players’ perspective, Switzer agreed with his coach on Marmion’s possession being the key to success.

“We kept possession and if we keep possession, we tend to win. We try to keep it in the middle, but also take it out wide, play the ball sooner to create some space and then push it back. It’s not always about going right to the goal,” Switzer noted.

Of course it still remains to be seen if Marmion can avoid losing to the hosts, who serve as the final group-play opponent for the 7-3-4 Cadets. The winners of the black and orange divisions meet for first place on Saturday while the runner-ups face each other to decide third-place overall; the number three teams tangle to determine fifth, and the two group’s cellar teams play for seventh.

Despite being a case of too little, too late, falling behind finally energized the Rockets who were sluggish throughout the opening half. With 14 minutes still to be played, Burlington Central’s awakened attack finally paid off.

Paolo Sespena was able to cross the ball to Matt O’Connor, whose shot for the far post was slightly deflected by Marmion goalie Brad White, but not enough to prevent the goal.

“I know Paolo’s fast and good at beating people so I got into position and once I saw the cross coming my way, I just made up my mind to score,” O’Connor said in regard to his second goal of the season.

“It’s always good to get a goal, but it’s never good to lose. The bottom line is that our team needs to work on playing better throughout the match.”

After having battled host St. Charles East to a scoreless opening half on Monday, Burlington Central dropped a 4-0 contest for the very first loss of the season.

Now standing 7-2-4, the Rockets hope to avoid having a three-game losing streak on Thursday when they battle Plainfield South.

Regardless of the outcome, Burlington Central coach Mike Gecan views the opportunity to play in the invitational as a needed boost for the Rockets’ schedule.

“I’m just happy that we’re in this tournament. The Big Northern has some good guys as coaches and some nice teams, but we need to see the kind of competition we’ll be up against in the postseason,” Gecan said.

“Marmion is considered one of the better teams in the state for 2A, and if we want to be on their level, then we need this kind of experience. St. Charles East is another level, so is a Plainfield South. Yeah, sometimes it’s an eye-opener for us, but we’ve got to have the experience of facing those kind of teams to get where we want to be.

“I’d just like to see us play better and more consistent as a team. We’ve got individuals that have made the commitment, but sometimes the others are sporadic in their focus. We need to overcome that with a little more leadership from me and from some of our players,” Gecan concluded.

Despite having only one starter back from last year’s fourth-place state-finishing unit, Gecan figured the same “one-game-at-a-time” approach would be followed with the hope it would lead to the same conclusion, even with a different storyline.

After all, the IHSA had already done some editing to last year’s plotline as a postseason Cadet-Rocket rematch will only be possible at the SuperSectional level.

Burlington Central has been assigned to the five-team Hampshire Regional which feeds into the Lakes Sectional while Marmion is part of a five-team DeKalb Regional which then goes into the Freeport Sectional.