Tomcats shut down Marmion

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AURORA -- More than an hour before the start of Monday night's contest with East Aurora, a surprisingly dry Fichtel Field was already overrun by long-sleeved, light blue jerseys as the Marmion Cadets were out in force, crisply passing the ball and eagerly awaiting their shot at the visiting Tomcats.

But once the lights were flipped on, Marmion athletic director Joe Chivari provided a quick White Sox-Detroit Tigers update over the PA and the clock struck 6:45, the Cadets (8-7-1) weren't sharp with their passing, delivered only three shots on goal in the final 40 minutes and dropping the nonconference matchup to East Aurora, 2-0.

"We had guys that just held the ball too long, and we cannot play that way," said Marmion coach Kevin O'Connor. "We're playing best when we're releasing the ball and getting a lot of guys involved with the attack. Tonight we held the ball too much."

East Aurora (7-4-2) didn't have that problem. After a scoreless first half, the Tomcats broke through in the 49th minute with a beautiful goal from West Aurora transfer Jesse Ortiz. The junior outran a Cadet to a free ball down the left sideline, angled in toward Marmion senior goalie Andrew Slade and tucked the ball into the lower right corner from 10 yards out.

"I just saw they were flat in the back," Ortiz said. "(Junior Eron Ortiz) played a good ball over the top and I went and got it."

"I knew it was going to be a battle, and the first half we just had a hard time finding people open up front," said East Aurora coach Jason Rollins. "I knew (Marmion) played a 4-4-2 -- they don't really play a true sweeper -- so I knew their vulnerability was going to be out wide."

And the Tomcats took advantage, as they peppered Slade in the final 40 minutes. Junior midfielder Jose Favela nearly gave East Aurora a 2-0 lead in the 50th minute with a shot that deflected off the crossbar, and senior Michael Amaro, who curled two free kicks just over the crossbar in a 3:55 span beginning in the 52nd minute, nearly shook the back of the net with 6:15 left but was stopped by a diving save from Slade.

"Near the end we had a lot of chances, because as a 4-4-2 starts to fall apart, if you're playing flat -- we took advantage of it," Rollins said.

Midfielder David Rodriguez assisted to junior Oscar Rodriguez on a breakaway with 30.2 seconds remaining for the Tomcats' second goal.