Marmion rolls to 10th straight win

By Darryl Mellema

Forget the opposition, the pass-and-move exhibition put on at IMSA on Tuesday was a sight to behold.

And if a team is going to win its 10th straight match – which is what the Cadets did after defeating the Titans 8-1, then this was certainly how to gain such a mark in style.

Marmion (16-5-1) moved with fluency from the first minute, when Max Rosenfelder forced a smart save. It took less than 5 minutes for Mike Frasca to open the scoring, but what was memorable about the goal was its creation.

Good passing at midfield between Alex Ruble and Rosenfelder led to Sam Duffield taking the ball up the left wing. Duffield crossed and Frasca finished.

It went like that for most of the rest of the match; Marmion's movement exquisite, IMSA's team stretched more and more and the scoreboard registering the result as the ball kept hitting the back of the net.

“I think we've been playing nice soccer,” Marmion coach Kevin O'Connor said. “One of the nice things about this team is that they don't take any opponent lightly. They respect everybody they play. There have been some games that have been lopsided in the score. But to our team's credit, they respect everybody on the roster of every team we've played.”

As an example of Marmion's maturity, the IMSA match a year ago was a struggle. The Titans scored first and the Cadets had to sweat a 3-1 victory. This year's Cadets never allowed the Titans into the game, dominating from the first minute to the last.

“They know they're capable of playing well and they want to try to play that way in every game,” O'Connor said. “This is one of the more technical teams I've ever had. This is a very technically strong group.”

As in every Marmion season, the season has been forged against white-hot opposition. Whether conference play or non-conference matches, the Cadets never shy away from tough opponents.

“We started the season kind of rough,” Marmion senior defender Steve Anderson said. “But some of that's because we had the big games in the Barrington tournament and the Pepsi Showdown, though we did OK in the Pepsi Showdown.”

Marmion's last loss was Sept. 21, a 5-4 thriller against Wheaton Academy counting strong results just before that loss and the Cadets are 13-1-1 in the last month.

“We've beaten some good teams,” Anderson said. “We're kind of excited about what could happen. We know we have potential.”

The reality of Marmion's play was that the team had to overcome IMSA's fast-pushing defense. While the Cadets were caught offside on a number of occasions, they broke that trap many more times and created great scoring chances in the process. Such was their movement that seven Marmion players scored on Tuesday.

“It's nice knowing we have players coming from midfield and other positions to go forward and score,” Rosenfelder said. “It's nice to lay the ball off sometimes, to pass instead of having to shoot all the time. It just shows we've got a great team all around. We just don't have two or three players who can score.”

Duffield scored Marmion's second goal after 12 minutes. Matthew Switzer fed Rosenfelder, who found Duffield, who hit the right side-netting from inside the six-yard box on the left wing. Rosenfelder, integral in creating the first two goals, got on the scoresheet himself after 15 minutes. Anderson chipped' the ball forward to Tommy Cruger, who found Rosenfelder for the goal.

“It all starts with (Duffield and Rosenfelder) up top, but other players are stepping up,” Anderson said. “The more the better.”
Connor Lefelstein put Marmion 4-0 up after 25 minutes following approach work by Switzer and Casey White.

IMSA's best threat in the game was Samir Mishra, and it was he who scored with just under 9 minutes left in the first half to break the shutout.

White punished a poor clearance before halftime to give Marmion a 5-1 lead at the intermission. Rosenfelder was again the provider for the Cadets' sixth goal. After dribbling through the offside trap, he found Duffield, who scored his second goal of the match.
Cruger and Anderson scored Marmion's other goals as the match wound down.

Marmion is assured of second place in the inaugural Suburban Christian Conference campaign. The Cadets conclude their regular season on Thursday against Marian Catholic.

“It should be a pretty good game to get ready for the tournament,” Anderson said. “You can't get experience like that in practice just playing against your own team. It should be good.”

The tournament begins next week. There are some tough matches that could derail a Marmion-Wheaton Academy rematch – but if it is to take place, the date would be Oct. 31 and the setting would be the Hampshire Sectional championship game.

“That'd be a great game,” Rosenfelder said. “It was so much fun to play in that game. We'd love to play them again. We hope to get another shot at them.”

Man of the Match: Steve Anderson

By Darryl Mellema

There wasn't much defending for Marmion to do on Tuesday, but Cadets' defender Steve Anderson proved more than capable in handling what loose balls made it to the center of the Cadets defense.

But where Anderson excelled was in turning that change of possession into a swift-moving Marmion attack. Time and again, his passes sparked promising offensive moves.

And when he chose to do so, Anderson showed he could be an offensive force himself. He scored the final goal of the match with 19 minutes to play after dribbling through IMSA's offside trap.

The finishing touch wasn't there the whole time, but we connected,” Anderson said. “It was a good game to watch, to be honest. I was sitting in the back and didn't have to do much. But I saw us creating chance after chance.”

Anderson's forward runs created another level of havoc in IMSA's defense which struggled to keep Marmion's attacking players under control.

“I enjoy making those runs,” Anderson said. “I've always been an attacking kind of player even though defense has been my home.”

Marmion starters vs. IMSA