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Marmion scores early, often in win
Updated: September 15, 2011 9:36PM
With the way Marmion’s soccer team was peppering Aurora Central Catholic goalie Michael O’Donnell with shots early in Thursday’s Suburban Christian match, it seemed only a matter of time before the Cadets would break through.
O’Donnell had already saved eight shots, many in spectacular fashion, before Marmion finally broke through with 15 minutes left in the first half.
When the Cadets broke through, they really broke through.
They scored three goals in a span of 2:07 to break the game open and followed with a similar stretch in the second half en route to a 7-1 win.
“Their goalie played phenomenal,” said Marmion senior Mike Frasca, who scored four goals in the win. “Once we found it, we smelled blood and went after it. Once we find the net, we’re hungry for more.”
O’Donnell’s play (19 saves in all) forced Marmion coach Kevin O’Connor to make an adjustment about 15 minutes into the first half. O’Connor moved another attacker up top, and once he did that, the floodgates opened.
“I thought O’Donnell was outstanding,” O’Connor said. “He was diving for everything. We put three guys up top. Their backs had a little bit of a hard time playing against that extra player. At that point, they weren’t getting a lot into our box, so I thought we could afford to do that.”
The Cadets (6-1-2 overall, 4-0 SCC) validated their coach’s faith in them quickly. Frasca was in the middle of all four goals the Cadets scored in the first half. He got it started with a shot to the low right of O’Donnell at the 15:18 mark. Just over a minute later, he found the net again to make it 2-0. He then fed Matt Switzer for a goal at the 13:11 mark to suddenly make it 3-0.
He added another goal with 5:24 left before the half.
“I liked the pace of our play,” O’Connor said. “I liked the way we were attacking. I liked our possession. It was just a matter of putting it in the net. I thought we really played well.”
ACC (6-3-1, 1-2) tried to get back into it briefly in the second half. Nick Homan fired in a goal with 28:17 left to make it 4-1 and seven minutes later, Edward Eastwood’s shot after a flurry in front of the net was saved.
That momentum was all the Cadets needed to put it away. Mick Maley scored once and set up Joe Romanos for another and Frasca capped his stellar game with his fourth goal to end it.
“If we would have had the same intensity from the get-go that our goalie had, it would have been a lot different story,” ACC coach Eric Cournaya said. “In the second half, we came out and played hard, but they got a few more goals and our heads went down.”
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