Marmion ousts Wheaton Academy

The two Marmion captains were the story, and the Cadets are headed for uncharted territory.

Senior forward Max Rosenfelder scored once and assisted classmate Sam Duffield on the backbreaker as Marmion reversed its regular-season encounter with Wheaton Academy to capture the Class 2A Hampshire sectional championship Saturday evening at Wheaton College.

In turning back the top-seeded Warriors with the 2-1 victory, Marmion (21-5-1) not only extended its win streak to 15 matches but also advanced to its first supersectional. The second-seeded Cadets will face off with Freeport on Tuesday at Barrington; Wheaton Academy had its season conclude at 17-5-2.

Rosenfelder opened the scoring five-plus minutes into the match. The forward lined up to take a corner kick from the left side, and his blast, riding an advantageous wind, struck the right-hand post and dribbled into the net.

"The funny thing is, someone asked me last week if I've ever scored on a corner before," Rosenfelder said. "Now I can say I have."

"I thought a major part of (the match) was the first goal," said Wheaton Academy coach Jeff Brooke.

The teams' conference meeting produced 9 goals as Wheaton Academy secured a 5-4 decision, and the play was equally frenetic and fast-paced throughout.

"We actually didn't anticipate another high-scoring game," Rosenfelder said. "We knew this was going to be a little more fluent."

Duffield had the unenviable task of shadowing Wheaton Academy standout Tim Daniels. The Warriors' junior came into the match with 35 goals and 12 assists, but Duffield did his job masterfully. Daniels had his chances, but none of his offerings found the correct destination.

"We changed things up a little (since the first match, which was the Cadets' last loss)," Marmion coach Kevin O'Connor said. "(Daniels) is a great player in my estimation. I thought Duffield neutralized him as well as anyone I have seen this year."

After weathering a much greater Wheaton Academy second-half onslaught without any damage, Rosenfelder and Duffield collaborated with the game-winner with less than 16 minutes to play. Rosenfelder directed a free kick to the Warriors' right post, which Duffield finished with a sliding flourish.

With slightly more than 10 minutes to play, Wheaton Academy sliced its deficit in half when Brandon VanderVeen redirected a Quinn Gorski corner kick with a deft header. But Marmion withstood the final Wheaton Academy barrage to claim the historic title.

"Give Marmion a lot of credit," Brooke said. "I felt like we played brilliantly in the second half."