Taking part in the sixth annual Red Card Cancer Match against Mother McAuley really hit home Friday with Stagg freshman Faith Marinier.
“It’s a huge deal to me,” Marinier said. “I have a lot of people in my family who have had cancer.”
Including her older sister, Donna.
“She played here (at Stagg),” Marinier said. “She has been in remission for 20 years.”
Little sister couldn’t have been beaming more after playing the hero role for Stagg in its 2-1 victory.
Marinier, a midfielder, scored the winning goal with 2:42 left to play on a header following a corner kick by Grace Javaras.
What a night for it.
“Yep, amazing,” Marinier said. “I’ve had a few in club, but nothing like this.”
Maja Persa scored the other goal for Stagg (10-5) on a penalty kick.
Grace Hynes had the tally for McAuley (7-7).
Proceeds from the event were to be given to the Johns Hopkins Cancer Research Center in honor of the late Cheryl Kaim. Her three daughters played soccer at Stagg. The youngest daughter, Allison, is in her first year as the Chargers head coach.
Event funds will also be donated to the Mary Ogarek Scholarship Award in honor of the former Stagg teacher who died in 2014 at age 33, and to the Randy and Melissa Zolk family, whose 1-year-old daughter is battling a heart ailment.
Marinier’s older sister was 6 years old when she was diagnosed with childhood leukemia. She went into remission at age 9 and has remained in good health.
“She is a pharmacist now,” Marinier now. “She goes to Africa and Uganda and works at hospitals. She’s really committed with the medicine.
“I felt really connected to this (Red Card game). I told myself, ‘This is your game to play hard and put all of it out there.'”
The goal was Marinier’s third of the season, and it came after a couple of earlier close calls on headers that were deflected away by McAuley defenders.
Javaras wasn’t about to stop feeding her.
“I always make sure to keep an eye on Faith,” Javaras said. “She’s our No. 1 ball winner in the box.
“We practice that play countless times in practice and I always make sure to look for her and place the ball right on her head.”
The Mighty Macs were trailing 1-0 when Hynes, a sophomore defender, got the equalizer on a header with 14:28 left in the first half.
“I thought it was a good game,” Hynes said. “It’s hard to lose in the last two minutes, but we put up a good fight. We left it out there on the field.”
McAuley was trying for an eighth victory that would double the total of wins from last season.
“Everyone is committed to getting better every day at practice,” Hynes said. “We’re just putting the work in. Coach (Denny) Clanton is doing a good job of getting us better skill-wise. We’re starting to put things together, which is exciting.”
Beecher 9, Rich East 0: Katie Bireline and Maddie Jansen scored three goals each for Beecher.
Baseball
Chicago Christian 4, Beecher 0: Tyler Edgar allowed two hits and struck out nine over 6 2/3 innings for Chicago Christian (27-0).
Homewood-Flossmoor 7, Crete-Monee 3: Justin Correll went 3-for-4 with three runs for H-F (9-9).
Lincoln-Way Central 12, Thornridge 0: Trey Korbel and Matt Helwig combined on a no-hitter for Central (12-6, 5-2 SWSC Red).
Lincoln-Way West 3, Bradley-Bourbonnais 1: Vinny Schroeder hit a go-ahead single in the sixth for West (14-8-1, 7-0 SWSC Red).
Lockport 3, Marist 2: Brent McDowell’s tiebreaking double sparked Lockport (11-8).
St. Rita 4, Marmion 1: Logan Strutz pitched a one-hitter and fanned eight for Rita (17-4, 9-2 Catholic Blue).
T.F. South 7, T.F. North 1: Emmitt Kienzle allowed three hits in five shutout innings for South (12-10, 6-5 SSC Blue).
Softball
Andrew 18, Thornwood 1: Ella LeMonier was 3-for-3 with four runs and four RBIs for Andrew (13-7, 4-2 SWSC Red).
Bradley-Bourbonnais 8, Lincoln-Way Central 4: Amanda Weyh posted a double and two runs for Central (14-5, 5-1 SWSC Red).
Illinois Lutheran 20, T.F. North 7: Mollie Hinz went 5-for-5 with a grand slam and seven RBIs to power Illinois Lutheran (10-11).
Marian Catholic 1, Stagg 0: Danielle Thieman threw a two-hitter for Marian (7-10).
Marist 2, Mother McAuley 1: Angela Zedak pitched a complete game and also scored a run for Marist (12-3).
Oak Lawn 12, Morton 2: Natalia Rafacz chalked up two doubles and five RBIs to pace Oak Lawn (12-6).
Richards 9, De La Salle 3: Angela Abrand contributed a three-run homer and four runs for Richards (10-9).
Sandburg 7, Minooka 6: Brianna Johnson’s eighth-inning RBI single boosted Sandburg (17-7).
Tinley Park 8, Lemont 5: Kristin Kavalauskas homered for Tinley (14-1, 11-0 SSC Blue).
T.F. South 8, Illiana Christian 4: Jacquelyn Davidson went 3-for-3 with three runs to pace South (10-10).
Boys Volleyball
Lincoln-Way East Invitational: Ryan Banky had 21 kills as Brother Rice (22-5) defeated Naperville North 25-22, 18-25, 15-5 and Minooka 25-23, 25-20.
Women’s Golf
CCAC Meet: St. Xavier’s Taylor Thompson (164) tied for second after shooting a final-round 82. The Cougars (710) finished third in the 10-team event at Flossmoor Country Club.
Twitter@tbaranek
Freelance writer Josh Krockey contributed.
