Cadets hang tough to claim 1-0 win over East Aurora

By Steve Nemeth

It wasn't that many matches ago that Marmion Academy seemed unable to keep a second-half lead from slipping away into a tie or worse yet, a one-goal loss.

That's why the Cadets' Homecoming weekend festivities will be that much more enjoyable for the soccer players following Friday's 1-0 victory over East Aurora.

Even if the Tomcats experienced a letdown a day after scratching out a scoreless draw versus No. 2-rated Neuqua Valley to give them a chance to potentially earn the school's first-ever conference title in soccer, this was still an 80-minute match that ended in Marmion's favor.

"It feels great to hang on to win a close game especially against a team as skilled and fast as East Aurora," quad-captain Mick Maley insisted after his penalty kick conversion proved to be the match-winner.

There was 11:15 left before halftime when East Aurora (14-2-3) was whistled for a trip inside the penalty box. That's when Maley succeeded in netting his 13th goal of the season.

"The key to PKs is to use the same routine, pick a corner ahead of time and focus on putting it into the back of the net hard," Maley explained.

"In this case the keeper also guessed the wrong way. This (victory) is a step in the right direction for us going into the postseason."

The Cadets (11-5-6) almost doubled the margin 6:30 into the second half when Juan Pablo Jasso's blast required a solid save from East Aurora keeper Jose Vasquez.

The Tomcats had a breakaway midway through the second half but Danny Miranda's shot sailed high over the crossbar and a potential equalizer with 3:35 left in the match was negated by an offside violation.

"I thought we played smart, simple soccer," Cadets coach Kevin O'Connor said. "Whether it was (Matt) Switzer, Maley and (Mike) Frasca before he got hurt, or (Juan Pablo) Jasso, our possession in the middle was key.

"The idea was to possess the ball and be very, very smart. I thought (Alex) Ruble's play in back was incredible. We didn't give them a lot of chances because Ruble, (Antonio) Ortiz and (Alex) Theisen's work rate on defense was excellent. I'll take that effort every game."

It was the eighth shutout of the year for Marmion and the fifth solo effort for Brad White, who shared in one other whitewash.

"I tried to keep command of the box and make certain we had everyone marked," White said. "If a victory is the cake, then a shutout is the icing on the cake for a keeper."

Marmion closes out the regular season on Tuesday with another intra-city match when the Illinois Mathematics & Science Academy visits for a 4:30 p.m. contest.

Meanwhile, the Tomcats must now re-focus for Tuesday's 4:30 p.m. Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division finale at Metea Valley.

"Physically and emotionally we were spent," EA coach Jason Rollins admitted. "We knew they'd be fresh and we couldn't even play everyone today, but the bottom line is that we didn't take care of business.

"We had chances and didn't finish them, so now the task is to be ready for Tuesday."

Tomcat senior co-captain Ruben Torres echoed his coach's viewpoint.

"I thought we had the ball in their half for most of the game, but we just couldn't finish our chances. We overplayed the ball too often," Torres said. "The key for us to come back, 100 percent focused for Tuesday."