Boys soccer: Marmion's first half not enough versus Irish
Marmion started Tuesday's Class 2A Sterling supersectional following the same script that got the Cadets to within one game of earning state hardware.
Unfortunately the second half belonged to Peoria Notre Dame which led to the Irish gaining a 5-1 victory that ended Marmion's season at 14-8-1. Notre Dame (22-2) moves on to Friday's 3 p.m. 2A semifinal at Hoffman Estates.
Marmion had a textbook cross that led to a goal just 7:49 into the match. For the seventh straight game, senior James Serrano contributed either a goal or an assist, in this case his eighth setup of the year led to Drew Noecker's second goal of the year. The sophomore forward parked a 14-yarder from right of center.
"Seeing the chance I just made sure to put it away," Noecker said. "I saw the keeper coming out and starting to go to the ground so I went up and placed it to the right."
Scoring early has been a winning formula for the Cadets in recent times, but it generally included keeping the opponents off the scoreboard. But at 19:56 Notre Dame tied the match.
James Cusack's eighth assist led to McKay Lahood's 12th goal on a head flick that just eluded Cadet goalie Jason Baker's reach and then dipped under the crossbar.
"We got off to a great start and I thought we were still doing pretty well in the second half until a little mistake," Marmion coach Jimmy Romano said. "It came down to chances and when they got the second and third, it took everything out of us."
Myles Sophanavong pounced on a failed Marmion clear and made the most of a 1v1 opportunity to give the Irish the lead at 49:59. Five minutes later, Noah Madrigal ripped a 28-yard cracker for a 3-1 lead.
"(After the halftime draw), taking the lead was good, but I think the second goal was huge," Notre Dame coach Mike Bare said. "That was simply a great goal. At that point it took the wind out of their play."
It also didn't help Marmion that scoring leader Serrano was injured with 23:40 still left in regulation and wasn't able to continue.
Notre Dame's Madrigal got his second goal of the match and upped his season total to 36 with a right side blast that sliced inside the far left post.
Things took a nasty turn with 9:11 remaining when both teams had players removed via red card expulsions. That may prove costly for Notre Dame since it was Sophanavong (who has 23 goals). The Irish capped the scoring with 7:42 to go on a goal by Anthony Alwan.
Marmion, which last made it to the supersectional in 2011 when Kevin O'Connor coached the Cadets to a fourth-place finish, battled to the end with a late shot ricocheting from one post to the other, but not in.
O'Connor was on hand rooting for Marmion and gave Romano a bear hug saying "Helluva a run, really proud of you guys."
Senior co-captain Michael Murray echoed those thoughts.
"We expected to be decent but when we started win-lose, win-lose, no one probably thought we would get this far," Murray said. "We always had individual talent, but we became more of a family playing as a unit."
"Our seniors definitely deserve this," Romano insisted. "I'm so proud of these guys and it started with remembering some frustration at the end of last year. We're relatively young so those guys need to remember tonight going into next season."