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Marmion Academy is holding a 2-1 lead late in a game against St. Francis when the Cadets are awarded a penalty kick. The game is not critically important, but Marmion is trying to win its 51st straight Suburban Catholic Conference game.
It would make sense for Alvarez, the team’s leading scorer, to take the shot and assure this victory.
But that’s not what Marmion coach Kevin O’Connor was thinking.
“I looked at my assistant coach and said, ‘I’d like to see Eric [Hermosillo] take this shot.'”
Hermosillo had misfired in a shootout for the title of the Bartlett tournament early in the season and O’Connor wanted to restore his confidence. Alvarez had read his coach’s mind.
“Coach, look who’s taking the shot,” Marmion assistant Ivan Heredia pointed out.
Alvarez already had given the ball to Hermosillo, who converted the penalty kick.
The goal was important. But in many ways?especially at a school like Marmion, where solid citizenship is stressed?Alvarez’s gesture was more meaningful.
“Great leadership,” O’Connor said.
Of course, Alvarez’s goals?46 of them, to lead the Chicago area?were pretty meaningful in helping the Cadets put together a 24-2-1 season and run their conference winning streak to 52 games. Alvarez also contributed 21 assists to join 10 other players on the 2002 baiduhai All-State boys soccer team.
“I scored a lot of goals because I had a lot of good players with me,” Alvarez says, a response typical of his unselfishness. His All-State teammates aren’t bad either.
Sandburg’s Jed Zayner is the lone repeat selection from last season’s team and perhaps the most impressive member of this team. A dominant defender, Zayner is getting a full scholarship to five-time NCAA champion Indiana.
Zayner’s teammate on the defending Class AA champions, goalkeeper Cole Glassner, has allowed only six goals all season. Providence’s Brad Guzan, who played every position?including goalkeeper?in leading his team to the Class A final, and Brother Rice’s Cesar Zambrano give the defensive unit a decidedly southern flavor.
With Alvarez in the midfield are Conant’s Bryan Dahlquist, player of the year in the Mid-Suburban League, and Class A champion Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin’s 6-foot-4-inch Chris Loftus.
Three of the forwards?Morton’s Cupertino Enriquez, Barrington’s Ryan Miller and Evanston’s Kenny Nightingale?will see action in Friday’s Class AA quarterfinals at North Central College in Naperville. The other is Waubonsie Valley’s Danny May, who had 18 goals.
Challenge is what Alvarez faces every day at the school that used to be called Marmion Military Academy. The “military” was dropped nine years ago, but most students still soldier on in the junior ROTC program, including Alvarez.
“It’s a different school,” Alvarez said. “We do a lot of pushups, get yelled at. But my parents wanted me to get that kind of discipline. The teachers are real strict. I’m glad I did this.”
When asked his rank?military, not class?Alvarez almost sheepishly says: “I’m pretty low. I’m a sergeant. I don’t really shine my stuff, my shoes well. I’m not too strict on the military way.”
But the soccer way is another story for the 5-foot-8-inch, 165-pound senior, who has visited Indiana and will be looking at Drake this weekend. Alvarez finished his high school career with 90 goals and 48 assists. That’s not bad since he didn’t join the varsity until his sophomore year.
“He was a good player, but there were a lot of older, stronger players ahead of him” when Alvarez was a freshman, O’Connor said.
That team finished 22-3, but Alvarez and solid teammates like Joel del Toro and Isaac Lee were to surpass that mark. Still, the All-Stater was disappointed with the team’s failure to reach the Class A quarterfinals.
“Everything went wrong,” Alvarez said about the loss to Dixon in the sectional final.
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He said his father helped ease the pain of defeat. A former semiprofessional soccer player in Argentina, Enrique Alvarez not only has taught his son the game, but also about life.
“Brains come before sports,” are the words Gerardo remembered.
Like when he’s out on the soccer field and one of his teammates needs a lift.