BARRINGTON -- Anybody that watched Marmion's soccer team take on Freeport in the Class 2A Barrington Super-Sectional would get the impression the Cadets dominated the pace of play all night.
But in soccer, that is not always what determines the winner. Unfortunately for Marmion, that was the case Tuesday.
The Cadets saw their magical postseason run come to an end as Freeport posted a 2-1, double-overtime win to halt Marmion's winning streak at 15 matches and end the most successful season in the program's history with a 21-6-1 mark.
"We dominated the game," Marmion coach Kevin O'Connor said. "This is a game where we did everything we wanted to do, except a couple of times where we didn't connect at the end. We possessed, we transitioned. I don't think they had more than five shots the entire game, including overtime. We did everything but win the game."
Indeed, Marmion had three times as many shots on goal (12-4), but could not get more than one goal past 6-foot-7 senior Freeport keeper Scott Kesler. That goal came at the 7:58 mark of the first half to give the Cadets a 1-0 lead, and it came in dramatic fashion.
Mike Frasca played the ball in to Max Rosenfelder, who with his back facing the net, performed a picture-perfect bicycle kick that sent a strike past Kesler.
"I used to practice it on my trampoline growing up," Rosenfelder said. "It's just something fun that we always do. I just connected right this time and it went in. It was a good ball by Frasca, I saw it coming in and figured why not try it? If it goes on goal, it could go in and it went in."
The Cadets were unable to hold that lead until the half, however. Freeport's Nick Dace was taken down in the box and awarded a penalty kick, which he slid into the lower right corner past Marmion keeper Bradley White at the 2:35 mark to tie things up.
Marmion had five shots on goal and another six shots that either went wide or over the net in the second half, while Freeport (21-2-4) did not muster one shot on goal in the half. The Cadets were hoping for some calls like Dace's penalty kick in the second half, as there were a couple of instances where it looked like a call would go Marmion's way. But those whistles never came, forcing overtime.
"We knew going into the game that we could possess the ball," Rosenfelder said. "We watched the game film from when we played them (over the summer at a camp in Iowa, a 1-0 Freeport win) and it was the same thing. We had all the shots in the world, we just couldn't put them away. We had some quality chances in front of the goal. Their defenders made some good blocks. Their keeper made some great saves. But we played our hearts out. That's all you can ask from this team."
The winning goal came at the 2:21 mark of double overtime in transition. Jared Brendemuehl had the initial shot, which White made a brilliant save on. But Jon McKinney was waiting there to punch in the rebound to give the Pretzels the 2-1 win.
Boys soccer: Class 2A Barrington Super-Sectional
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