Cadets look sharp in opening win at Willowbrook

By Curt Herron

On an evening devoted to celebrating a new playing surface, Marmion's soccer team did an excellent job of spoiling the party for the host school.

Playing the first competition on the turf field at Willowbrook's stadium, the Cadets were almost as sharp as the Mondo surface that they performed on.

After jumping out to a 3-0 halftime lead, Marmion added a second-half score to help it post a 4-0 season-opening nonconference victory in Villa Park.

Senior co-captains Sam Duffield and Max Rosenfelder each scored a pair of goals to help Marmion (1-0) claim a decisive win over the Warriors (0-1).

The Cadets took advantage of the nice playing surface to display an effective possession game that they hope leads to plenty of success this season.

"We're a pretty good possession team and we play our best when we touch the ball quickly and are sharing the ball," Cadets coach Kevin O'Connor said. "We're not the biggest or the fastest team so we have to finish on the chances we get and we did that tonight.

"I was really pleased to see Sam and Max put a couple away early since it's something we've worked on in practice. Goals are hard to come by but with the way that we possess the ball, if we can put a couple away, we can usually dictate the tempo of the game."

Rosenfelder got things started offensively for the Cadets when he connected for a score off of a deflection about 15 minutes into the match.

With about 15 minutes left in the first half, Duffield made it 2-0 when he scored on a header following a corner kick by freshman Connor Lefelstein.

"I thought we had a great team effort," Duffield said. "I think moving the ball around really tied them down a little bit. We had plenty of opportunities where we had six, seven or eight guys touch the ball before a shot and that's what we want to have happen.

"This shows that we're an entire team and not just a few players. We have a really strong group of seniors leading the team who have been waiting for this season since our freshman year. And the young guys are great and they're trying hard and learning fast."

Duffield increased the advantage to 3-0 with just under half a minute remaining in the first half when he found the net on a breakaway opportunity.

And Rosenfelder closed out the scoring about 10 minutes into the second half after getting tripped up in the box and making the subsequent penalty kick.

He nearly picked up his third goal a couple of minutes later after lofting a threatening shot but Willowbrook's keeper came up with a nice deflection.

"This was a big for win for us and it was a good way to start the season," Rosenfelder said. "It was nice to get a 4-0 win over a team with good energy since they were playing their first game on the turf field. I think we showed a lot of team unity out there.

"We possessed the ball really well and even after we made some substitutions we still played well so it shows that we have a good solid team. We all get along really well and we're all friends and that's best part since it's fun for us out there on the field."

Junior starter Evan Lefelstein and sophomore Bradley White combined to post the shutout in goal or the winners, who substituted liberally after the break.

Both keepers were able to come up with big saves midway through the second half in order to keep the host Warriors from finding the net during the match.

"I thought our goalkeepers played very well tonight," O'Connor said. "I thought we let them get through us a little too much in the second half but it was a good performance by the keepers to start."

The Cadet coach was also impressed with the performance of all of his players, but especially senior midfielder Tommy Cruger, in what he viewed as a total team effort.

"I want to point out Tommy Cruger's play in the middle, as well as the two kids in the middle in the back, Mike Maley and Steve Anderson," O'Connor said. "But I thought that Tommy was the unsung hero.

"When you get a shutout the keeper and your back get the credit and the goal scorers also get their credit. But Tommy was a very solidifying force in the midfield and we're on our game when we work the ball through the midfield."

Cruger, who is another co-captain along with senior Steve Anderson, was also pleased with how well the Cadets were able to perform in their season debut.

"This was definitely the way that we wanted to start our season," Cruger said. "We have as bunch of seniors who have been together for a long time and our captains all bring three to four years of experience. We're pushing the team hard for the full 80 minutes.

"All of our younger players stepped up and played like they've been here for awhile and that helps. You always want to start strong and have a good first impression to help carry you through the season and that's we were focused on doing during this first week."

Photos courtesy of Chris Fox