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Boys soccer: Serrano's 2 goals lift Marmion over Huntley

Whatever words of wisdom Marmion coach Jimmy Romano preached to his team at halftime of Saturday's nonconference game at Huntley he should bottle it.

Trailing the host Red Raiders 1-0 after 40 minutes, the Cadets used 2 second half goals from junior forward James Serrano to pull out a 2-1 victory.

The game was contested in 90-degree heat.

"I told the kids at halftime we have to play with more a sense of urgency," said Romano. "We needed to play with more focus and energy. We needed to create more shots and get more shots on goal. We had to create more pressure on Huntley's defense. James literally took the game over for us. He is a special, special player."

With 4:54 elapsed in the second half, Serrano scored his first goal of the game off an assist from TJ Laurich as the Cadets (2-9-1) knotted the match at 1.

Serrano scored what turned out to be the game-winner off a feed from Drew Noecker with 30:23 left in the contest.

"I have to give my teammates all the credit," said Serrano. "We were struggling in the first half and we needed to play with more energy and mental focus. Coach Romano said we had to handle the heat better and that everybody would have to contribute. We have lost so many tough 1-goal games. This is a great win for our morale and hopefully will give us momentum for the rest of the season. Coach Romano and the seniors have done a great job of keeping this team together."

Huntley's lone goal of the game came with 11:27 left in the first half when Sal Arnieri scored off an assist by Drew Landoch.

The Red Raiders had 1 golden opportunity to score in each half.

With 31:04 left in the first half, Adam Kaster's header sailed over the net.

In the second half with 12:46 left, Matt Jensen broke through the Cadet defense but his shot went wide.

The Cadets, which outshot Huntley (5-10-1) 7-3, received 1 save each from Jeffrey Walter and Jason Baker.

While playing the first half, Kevin Sieb registered 3 saves and Lucas Clemetsen collected 2 saves during the second 40 minutes of action for the Red Raiders.

"It was a better effort on both sides of the ball," said Huntley coach Kris Grabner. "We turned the ball over and had a collapse on defense. Those 2 situations cost us 2 goals. We did some good things today. We have 6 sophomores who are playing a lot. We have to be patient."

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