Marmion tops St. Charles E.
Despite taking a 1-0 lead into halftime, Marmion soccer coach Kevin O’Connor felt the time was right for a lineup change after watching his team be out-shot by St. Charles East, 15-3.
“St. Charles East has great speed and their speed was giving us trouble on the flanks in the first half,” said O’Connor. “We were able to survive that but we went to one less midfielder (in the second half) so that our outside backs could cover their flanks.
“It somewhat negated what they were trying to do,” added O’Connor.
While the Cadets (8-3-4) solidified their defense, they also added a little more offensive punch on second-half goals from Mick Maley and Mike Frasca en route to Thursday’s 3-1 victory over the host Saints (4-5-1) in the 18th annual St. Charles East Soccer Invitational at Norris Stadium.
“They were giving us fits in the first half with their overlapping runs down the flanks,” said O’Connor. “Our midfielders couldn’t stay with them so instead of hoping we’d be able to sustain another 40 minutes (of play), I made the decision to go with a little different formation.”
Maley’s goal came off of the Cadets’ first corner kick of the game — from Frasca in the 48th minute.
Nearly 13 minutes later, Frasca netted his second goal of the game on a 28-yard free kick to make it 3-0.
“Getting those two (goals) was huge,” said O’Connor. “We didn’t want to try and win this game 1-0. We wanted to continue to push the action.”
“Earlier this season when we got beat 6-0 by (Rockford) Boylan, every time they scored they wanted to step on us more,” said Frasca. “That’s our philosophy now. Once we get one, we’re hungry for more.”
Frasca’s first goal of the game came in the 12th minute when he controlled a long free kick from Matt Switzer and delivered a low shot into the back of the net.
“I always want to get the first touch on the first set play of the game,” said Frasca. “Yesterday I hit the crossbar in a similar situation so it’s good to finish one off.”
Goalkeeper Brad White collected 14 saves, including a finger-tip stop of Michael Macek’s penalty kick midway through the second half, as Marmion earned a berth in Saturday’s noon championship match against Glenbard North.
“I like our team when we play with this kind of intensity,” said O’Connor. “The score was no fluke. We can play a little bit.”
St. Charles East, which will play in Saturday’s fifth-place game, spoiled the Cadets’ shutout bid on Robert Stackhouse’s goal in the 70th minute.
“I’ve never seen a more one-sided 3-1 loss in my life,” said Saints coach Paul Jennison, whose team out-shot Marmion 25-8. “We dominated the entire game but we gave up three goals on set pieces. We did the same thing the other night against Plainfield South (in a 1-1 tie).
“To be a 4-5-1 team playing the way we do, it’s baffling at times,” added Jennison. “But I see a lot of positives. If we continue to play that way, good things are going to happen.”