Glenbard N. tops Marmion for SCE title

Letting a 2-0 lead turn into a 1-goal deficit isn’t exactly the formula for success.

However, it was the circuitous route that Glenbard North’s soccer team traversed on the way to capturing the 18th annual St. Charles East tournament championship Saturday afternoon at Norris Stadium.

After Yhehia Akif scored the equalizer off a corner kick midway through the second half, Ryan Anderson’s header in the 64th minute proved to be the game-winning goal during the Panthers’ 4-3 victory over Marmion (8-4-4).

Despite blowing the early lead, Glenbard North failed to lose its composure on a day that included intermittent rain and numerous yellow cards.

“It has happened before and we’ve come back so we kind of knew what to expect,” said Anderson. “We just needed to push ourselves through it.”

Anderson beat Cadets keeper Brad White in a foot race for the ball, and his header trickled into the net for the go-ahead goal – his eighth of the season.

“The goalie came way out and I was just running as fast as I could to get the ball,” said Anderson.

“When it took that high bounce, I thought he (White) would get it before me but I went up and got it over him. I saw one guy (defender) running after it and I was like, ‘this could be bad,’ but it just went in and I was relieved.”

Panthers coach Greg Chrisman was pleased with his team’s perseverance.

“It’s a game of emotion and we hung in there,” said Chrisman, whose team scored 10 goals in 3 games after opening the tourney with a 1-1 draw with Elgin.

Jon Colucci, who added a pair of assists, tallied the game’s first goal off a free-kick feed from Anderson before Ryan Scott found the back of the net later in the opening half to give the Panthers (7-5-2) a 2-0 lead.

Marmion countered with first-half goals from Joe Romanos and Matt Switzer before Luke Elder scored off a feed from Mick Maley to put the Cadets on top 3-2 early in the second half.

“We finally started possessing the ball 25 minutes into the game,” said Cadets coach Kevin O’Connor. “But by that time, we were down 2-nil. If we don’t literally give them the first goal, we’re playing with a 3-1 lead instead of 3-2 and it could have been a different game.”

While Marmion battled to a pair of 3-1 wins over host St. Charles East and Burlington Central earlier in the tournament, it was the way the team finished that rankled O’Connor.

“We made enough mistakes to lose today and Glenbard North made us pay for those mistakes,” said O’Connor. “This was the weakest game we played in the entire tournament, and it was not a good time to do it.

“That’s why you play tournaments – to be humbled enough to know you’ve got some stuff to work on,” added the Cadets coach.

Meanwhile, the Panthers will look to build off their tourney success.

“We’re finally starting to put things together and we feel good about our team play,” said Chrisman. “It kind of shows now with three wins in a row.”