Marmion soccer wins first sectional title

Cadets top nemesis to claim sectional crown

WHEATON -- When Marmion soccer coach Kevin O'Connor started the school's program 16 years ago, he dreamed of a day like Saturday.

For the first time in the history of the program O'Connor started and leads to this day, the Cadets earned a sectional title. They topped conference rival Wheaton Academy 2-1 to win the Class 2A Hampshire Sectional; the match was played at Wheaton College because of poor field conditions at Hampshire. The win also avenged the last loss Marmion had this season, which was 15 matches ago to the Warriors.

"It's been a lot of years of frustration," O'Connor said. "It's been a lot of years of close, close, close. It's relieving. It's hard to put into words. They wanted this in such a way. We just beat a very, very good team. We can finally say 'finally.'"

Marmion will face Freeport at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Barrington Super-Sectional.

Senior Max Rosenfelder continued his superior postseason by getting the Cadets (21-5-1) on the board five minutes into the game. He put his corner kick right on the far post, and it bounced off the post and the wind carried it into the net for a stunning 1-0 lead.

"He put it back post and sometimes you have to be lucky in this game," O'Connor said. "He bounced it off the post and off a guy's back. It's happened to us in the past. We'll take it. Max struck the ball well. He hit it well, but there was a little luck involved."

Then with 20:03 left in the second, the Cadets withstood the increased offensive pressure from Wheaton Academy (17-5-2) and put in their second goal of the game. Rosenfelder struck a free kick from within 10 yards of the goal toward the frame and Sam Duffield got a foot on it to push the lead to 2-0. Duffield spent most of the day trying to defend Warriors star Timothy Daniels, but he managed to get what turned out to be the decisive goal anyway.

"Duffield just outworked them," O'Connor said. "Duff is so good. He was absolutely magnificent."

Wheaton Academy managed to get on the board with 10:33 left when Quinn Gorski put in a shot off a corner kick. The Warriors also hit the post off a corner kick with 4 minutes left, but that was their last dangerous chance as the Cadets celebrated their first sectional title in four tries as a program.

"(O'Connor)'s dedicated his life to the program," Rosenfelder said. "We owe it to him. The alumni, they always love it. We've had a lot of alums come back to practice and help us, which is great. They've all told us how proud they are. We're playing for ourselves and our alums. We want to keep going."