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Cruger's timely goal was in the stars vs. West Chicago By Gary Larsen
But who knew he had a crystal ball? O’Connor gazed into the future during Marmion’s lop-sided win over Aurora Central Catholic on Tuesday, in responding to a question from senior captain Tommy Cruger. “I asked him if I could go in and try to get my first goal of the season,” Cruger said. “He said ‘no, score one against West Chicago when it really matters’.” Cruger scored the game-winning goal against West Chicago on Wednesday, with 21.5 seconds left in the game, proving his coach a soothsayer. “Hey, I’m not just a pretty face,” O’Connor said. “I’m not an old geezer for nothing.” Marmion’s 2-1 win over West Chicago in Aurora featured hard play, a few disputed calls, and a valiant push for a tie by the visiting Wildcats, all capped by Cruger’s deciding score. Cruger’s goal from 8 yards out came after Marmion sent a corner kick in with time winding down in a 1-1 tie. “Our guys did a great job of pressuring the keeper, which is always key,” Cruger said. “The goalie wasn’t able to catch the ball, it came back out and I just volleyed it in.” Marmion’s starting back line on Wednesday featured Steve Anderson, Sam Soliz, Matthew Switzer, and Elliot Anderson, with Connor Lefelstein and Jeff Martin on the outside at midfield, and Cruger and Mike Frasca in the middle. As always for Marmion, Sam Duffield and Max Rosenfelder were dangerous up top on counters and restarts throughout the contest. Lefelstein sent a shot high from out front early in the contest, and Marmion sent a good handful of dangerous free kicks into the box that went for naught. West Chicago answered with a solid ten minute stretch of attacking play, to the game’s 20th minute. “We’ve been playing West Chicago for fourteen or fifteen years,” O’Connor said. “I think they may be one or so up on us in the win column over all those years.” “We have a great deal of respect for the way they play. They play quick, they play hard, they’re skilled, and they come at you relentlessly.” Frasca broke into the box on a counterattack and fired a hard shot that was saved in the 19th minute, and the game didn’t see a goal until the 30th minute, courtesy of Lefelstein. Casey White sent a ball towards the goalmouth that found the ground, and the freshman Lefelstein stepped onto it and buried it. “Connor Lefelstein is a very smart player,” O’Connor said. “He’s skilled, he’s got some explosiveness to him, and he’s very, very smart. He’s just a kid who makes plays.” After an apparent free-kick goal by West Chicago was called back, the teams lined up again for the kick and this time Marmion keeper Brad White made a diving stop to his left, tipping it over the end line. “I just got ready to make the stop. I got in position that time,” White said. “He was a left-footed shooter, and our wall had that side covered.” West Chicago continued to press for a tying goal, while the Cadets had several dangerous counterattacks turned away. Then, with 10 minutes left in the game, the continuation of a dangerous trend jumped up and bit Marmion. “Our statistics prove that we have a propensity to give up goals late in the game,” O’Connor said. “We’ve given up 13 goals in the last 10 minutes of games.” West Chicago’s goal in the game’s 70th minute tied the game. “I thought we played well in the first half, but there are some issues we need to address in terms of being more consistent,” Cruger said. “After we went up 1-0 we started slacking off in the attack, thinking the game was over a little bit.”
Call it urgency or call it an edge, but O’Connor hopes his boys begin to understand the importance of playing hard from wire to wire. “Skill-wise, we’re fine,” O’Connor said. “But we have to develop a tougher mentality. I’ve been preaching that all year but so far it hasn’t happened.” Wednesday’s game was the third in three days for Marmion, which hosts St. Francis on Friday. The Cadets are now 8-5-1 and growing more battle-tested by the day. “We play a hard schedule for a small school, and I think we do a great job with it,” Cruger said. “We’re having fun, and this team is starting to click now, getting ready for the regional and sectional games.”
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Man of the match: Mike Frasca By Gary Larsen
You can have all the skills in the world, or all the speed, or all the smarts. But Marmion’s Mike Frasca has something that coaches covet like water in the desert. “Mike Frasca is a grinder,” Marmion coach Kevin O’Connor said. “He has a bulldog mentality and he’s just what this team needs.” Frasca has spent most of this season up top, rotating in for either Sam Duffield or Max Rosenfelder, but after playing well against Wheaton Academy on Monday as a defensive midfielder, he may have found a new home. “Coach just told me to play like I did against Wheaton Academy, so I just brought that intensity into today’s game,” Frasca said. “I’m comfortable at defensive mid because I like the ball at my feet and I like to distribute.” Frasca battled well all over the midfield during Marmion’s 2-1 win over West Chicago on Wednesday. “The key is to stop transition play, and get back,” Frasca said. “And when I got the ball I just had to find those guys out wide, or hit those long balls to the corners.” “If this team can learn from Mike Frasca’s play, and Steve Anderson’s play, and Mike Maley and Tommy Cruger, we’ll be fine,” O’Connor said. “Frasca is one of those guys who understand how the game has to be played.” “I pulled Frasca aside a week ago and said ‘you get it. You really get it’. As a result, he has played himself into an 80-minute-per-game player.” “We need players like him all over the field.”
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Over the years Marmion’s Kevin O’Connor has developed the uncanny instincts of a wily veteran coach.
“And then we didn’t really have any urgency until there were five minutes left in the game. We have to fix that.”