Marmion rallies by Lakes in OT
Marmion senior Mick Maley’s message during halftime of Tuesday’s Class 2A DeKalb 2 supersectional boys soccer match was simple.
“I’m not going to let us lose.”
And he wouldn’t.
Marmion trailed Lakes, 1-0, at halftime on an own goal, but Maley scored the equalizer with under 20 minutes left in regulation and netted the game-winner just 1:59 into overtime to lift the Cadets to a 2-1 victory and to the state finals for the first time in school history.
“He told our team ‘I’m not going to let us lose,’ and that’s what a leader and a captain and tremendous all-state player does,” Marmion coach Kevin O’Connor said. “He willed us to jump on his back, on Mike Frasca’s, (Alex) Ruble’s and Brad White’s. He just willed us to win and I can’t say enough about this team.”
Lakes (15-10-1) once again fell just short of a trip to the state finals. They lost 4-1 to Burlington Central in a supersectional in 2010.
“It hurts. It hurts a lot,” Lakes coach Kevin Kullby said. “Our kids played their hearts out and we played a great game. There were just a couple moments where they got the best of us, which is unfortunate.”
On Monday, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa announced his retirement. The timing was perfect as the Cardinals had just won the World Series. O’Connor announced his retirement earlier this season and now the Cadets will look for a championship of their own beginning Friday at 1 p.m. against Glenwood Chatham in the semifinals at Lincoln-Way North in Frankfort.
Marmion (19-6-3) appeared destined for a scoreless match at halftime but the Cadets allowed an own goal off a free kick from Lakes senior Zach Reimer with only 1:21 remaining before intermission.
“We didn’t play our best game. We weren’t very sharp,” O’Connor said. “In the second half we were able to get some numbers going and find some gaps.”
The Cadets knotted the match at 1-all and ignited their large crowd of fans with 18:17 left in the second half. Frasca took a corner kick, served the ball out in front of the penalty area to Maley. Surprisingly, Maley was given some open space, easily took possession and buried a shot into the back of the net.
“That was a set piece we’ve been working on,” Frasca said. “It was all execution by Maley. I just had to play the ball in and he finished.”
Frasca nearly put the Cadets ahead with 8:06 left but Lakes keeper Edwin Vasquez made a brilliant save, reaching far to divert the shot out of harm’s way.
Then, just 39 seconds later, Lakes used an aggressive attack to earn a penalty kick with 7:27 left.
“We weren’t devastated because the ball wasn’t in the net yet,” O’Connor said. “I’ve always told my teams over the years that you’ve got to be good but you got to be lucky too.”
Marmion keeper Brad White, who stopped his first four penalty kicks to begin the season, was great on the penalty kick, snatching Kyle Neeve’s attempt to keep the score deadlocked at 1-all, where it would remain until overtime, despite both teams creating a couple late chances.
Overtime in a supersectional? Certainly nothing new to Frasca and Maley. They were in Barrington two years ago when the Cadets outshot and outplayed a Freeport team, but still fell, losing a devastating 2-1 match in double overtime.
“Once we tied it and went into overtime I had the same feeling as two years ago,” Frasca said. “I couldn’t leave with defeat this year as a senior so we just tried our best and Maley did a great job of finishing.”
The Cadets moved Frasca up top at the beginning of overtime to give the team as good of a chance to score the game-winner.
It paid off in less than two minutes.
“Before the overtime we said get it to Frasca and he’ll make something happen,” Maley said. “I got ahead of two guys, cut it back and didn’t even look. I just hit it.
“When you’re inside the 18(-yard) line with that kind of angle in overtime and a chance to go to state, you have to take the chance. I’ve hit shots like that before, but never that well. It was tight, but I took the chance and it went in.”
And then the celebration began.
“To run in front of the biggest and loudest crowd I’ve ever played in front of because we’re going to state, wow,” Maley said. “It’s the best moment of my entire life right now.”
So the record-breaking season continues for the Marmion soccer team, while retirement will have to hold off for one more week for O’Connor.
“This is very special to me,” O’Connor said. “I guess I couldn’t write the script any better. If it’s storybook stuff, I’ll take it, but I hope there are two more chapters left in the story.”