Boys soccer: Marmion gets its revenge on Kaneland
Eighteen Marmion players had been preparing for Saturday night's St. Francis Class 2A regional championship for a year.
The title bout was a rematch with Kaneland, which eliminated the Cadets from last year's postseason in a regional semifinal.
The 18, all members of the 2017 team, put that time to good use as the Cadets defeated the Knights 5-0 to win their first regional title since 2011.
Marmion advances to the Glenbard South sectional and will play Lemont in a semifinal at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
"All of them remember. I told them after that game that preparation for next year starts now and they worked," said second-year Marmion coach James Romano. "Preparation for this year did start after that game. They have done a fantastic job. That senior group is bunch of great leaders."
"We definitely remembered that game from last year and we wanted to make them feel how we did last year," said junior midfielder T.J. Laurich.
The Cadets controlled the game from the start but at first had trouble finding the back of the net. In the first 10 minutes of play, Marmion had four shots on goal that were off target.
At the 10:44 mark of the first period, Laurich scored the first goal on a C.J. Sowers corner kick.
"We ran a fake where we had a man check to the ball and we played a back post," Laurich said. "C.J. played a great ball and it was right there."
Marmion (12-8-1) extended its lead to 2-0 on another set play. Jack Kavanaugh headed another corner kick into the net in the 17th minute.
A minute later, James Serrano got past the Kaneland defense, and kicked the ball in from the right corner of the penalty box to put the Cadets up 3-0 at the half.
"My message to the team all year has been score early and score often, We had a lot of chances to score early but they weren't coming. I told my team to be patient and the goals will come," Romano said. "Normally when we score one, a lot more are going to come."
Twenty-nine seconds into the second half, Marmion widened its lead to 4-0 on a 35-yarder from James Lawinger.
Kavanaugh scored his second goal in the 73rd minute, heading into the net a Sowers corner kick.
The Cadets neutralized Kaneland (12-9-1) scoring leader Tuckers Jans. The senior forward finished his senior year with 31 goals, a new Kaneland scoring record.
"We knew that they had a goal scorer up there so we just kept guys always around him," said Romano. "Our guys were on him the whole time and didn't let him play through anything."
"They were the better team tonight so I can't complain about that. We just didn't come out to play today. It's unfortunate," said Kaneland coach Scott Parillo. "And I'm hoping this awful feeling will make us come back next year with a little more passion."