Wheaton Academy stuns Marmion in 2 OTs
Marmion stunned Wheaton Academy late in Wednesday’s Suburban Christian Conference boys soccer match.
Then the Warriors returned the favor.
After more than 77 minutes of scoreless soccer in Aurora, the Warriors took a 1-0 on a Grant Stoneman penalty kick with just 2:42 remaining. The Warriors were awarded the kick when an official ruled that one of Cadets took down a player in the penalty area.
With the conference championship slipping away, 14-year-old Conor Morton, who was sitting in eighth grade last fall when the Cadets advanced to state in Class 2A, came up with the equalizer with only 55 seconds remaining, sending a seed from about 30 yards away. It was his team-best 13th goal of the fall.
“I felt like I could do it. I’ve done it before, but not that far out before,” Morton said. But I was kind of hoping for a win so it was disappointing.”
The effort certainly caught the attention of Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke.
“That kid just hit a bomb,” he said. “I shook his hand afterward. And, he beat three guys to do it. That shot was fantastic and his composure on the ball was very good.”
After a scoreless overtime, the Warriors needed just 53 seconds in the second overtime to complete a perfect 8-0 conference campaign. Once again it was Stoneman who factor into things. The junior sneaked a pass through the Marmion defense to Gareth Flynn who buried the game-winner.
“Flynn has really stepped up in his whole career, but as a senior to put it away against Marmion,” Brooke said. “I know he’ll remember that for a long, long time.”
Marmion (13-6-2, 7-1) didn’t do much at all in the first half, other then deny the Warriors from scoring. “You can tell in the first half (we) were scared out of (our) mind,” Marmion coach Ricky Del Toro said. “At halftime we calmed them down and we started playing a bit better and unfortunately we got that call for the PK.”
Wheaton Academy (16-6-0, 8-0), which has won 10 of its last 11, remained patient, despite failing to finish on several excellent scoring chances.
“It was an interesting game because they played a low line against us in the first half and we had to adjust,” Brooke said. “I have to applaud the patience of our guys. It was new to us and no one has gone that low on us. The guys kept fighting and broke through a couple times in the second half.”
Marmion has now dropped four straight matches to Wheaton Academy. The Cadets’ last victory over the Warriors came in the 2009 Class 2A sectional title game that sent the team to its first Elite Eight appearance. Their 14-match unbeaten streak also came to an end.
“Last year we shared (the conference title) with Marmion as well,” Flynn said. “So it’s really good to beat them on their home field, on Senior Night, and in a dramatic way.”