Hornets get buried early vs. Downers South

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By Matt Le Cren

Senior Keri Kujawa and freshman Stephanie Zurales represent the present and the future, respectively, for Downers Grove South.

They currently share the team scoring lead with 13 goals after combining for three Tuesday night in a convincing 4-0 West Suburban Conference Gold Division victory over visiting Hinsdale South that demonstrated again why the present and future are bleak for any conference opponent hoping to knock off the Mustangs.

It was the 60th consecutive Gold victory for Downers South (15-2-1, 4-0), which can clinch at least a share of its 10th straight conference championship by beating Morton on Wednesday. The Mustangs’ last league loss came on April 3, 2001 when they lost 2-1 on penalty kicks to Hinsdale South.

“We take pride in that,” said Downers South coach Barry Jacobson, whose team has won 10 of its 11 matches, eight of which have been by shutout. “We talk about that, sending the seniors out without losing. If we win tomorrow we’ll get at least a share of it. That will be 10 straight years.”

Hinsdale South (7-7, 3-1) traditionally has been Downers South’s toughest rival in the Gold. Since the West Suburban Conference stopped naming a combined champion in soccer after the 1997 season, the Mustangs have won the Gold Division 11 times. The Hornets are the only other squad to win, having done so in 1998 and 2001.

“It’s a tradition,” Zurales said. “It’s good pride for the seniors to go out strong with a conference championship, so hopefully we can end the season like that.”

Zurales helped douse any hopes the Hornets had of moving into a first place by scoring two goals, one early on in each half.

The rookie put the hosts up 1-0 just 95 seconds into the contest when she latched onto a long lead pass from midfielder Jess Bronke on the left wing, raced past a defender and beat Hinsdale South goalie Vanessa Niestrom with a perfectly placed eight-yard shot.

“It was a great ball by Jess Bronke and I just ran onto it and got it in the back of the net,” Zurales said. “We had a couple good balls that I ran onto and our defense played really strong. We didn’t let anything get through, so it was a really good half for us.”

It certainly was. The Mustangs took the suspense out of what everyone thought would be a competitive game by scoring three times in the first 13 minutes.

Bronke notched her second assist of the game at the 29:45 mark when she sent a hard liner into the crease that Niestrom came out to cut off. The sophomore, who made seven saves, wasn’t able to hang onto the ball and Kujawa was there to boot it home.

Megan Martin increased the lead to 3-0 just 1:58 later when she ripped a 23-yard free kick over Niestrom’s head.

Hinsdale South coach Pat Wolf wouldn’t put all the blame for the goals on Niestrom, who did keep the score respectable with some fine saves, including a tremendous diving stop on Sarrah Ludwig’s point-blank shot with 2:25 left in the second half.

“She’s aggressive and I like that in a goalie,” Wolf said. “It’s better than just sitting back there, but it was why was the ball in that position in the first place? I just think we were just too ‘get rid of it, get rid of it.’

“She is a sophomore goalie, growing every game. She commands the back, at least with her voice. At least there’s one player on the field who I know is always going to be in charge and talking. Not that we listen. There were a couple times where she said, ‘On the head, on the head’…and they let the ball come down.”

“I’m not sure if any one of their first three goals was what I would say is a quality goal. After the first one you could just see where you’re down a little bit.”

And that was right where Jacobson wanted the Hornets.

“One of our goals was to come out right off the bat and try and attack the back line and I thought we did a nice job of that,” Jacobson said. “Steph got off right away and finished a nice run. We did some nice stuff for most of the game.”

Zurales and Kujawa continue to dominate up front for the Mustangs. They hooked up on the final goal of the night at the 37:17 mark of the second half. Kujawa sent a high cross from the left endline that sailed over the head of Niestrom to Zurales crashing in on the far post for the easy finish.

“Everyone just gave it to me so I just had to put it in and cross it,” Kujawa said. “[Zurales] is getting the ball in the right spots and the right time and she’s working really hard. We’re just working hard and just want to keep doing well.”

Kujawa added that the Hornets worked hard until the end, though without any success. The Hornets were outshot 16-2 and Downers South goalie Amanda Meyers had to make only one save, on a long shot by senior Jamie Walker midway through the second half, to get her 11th shutout.

“They’ve got a good team,” Wolf said. “I think they’re more balanced [than in recent years]. They’ve had some superstar studs here that take over a game, but I think they’re much more balanced. Sarrah is such a strong presence in the middle. Their defense is solid.

“Do we have the athletes that they have and the bench? No, but you have to believe that you have some ability instead of just being in panic mode. Just relax and play and I think we gave that away when we gave up two early goals.”

But Wolf did see some positives for the Hornets, who are next in action Thursday when they host Addison Trail.

“I thought Carolanne Pilch on the outside did a good job on Kujawa at the beginning, just making sure that she knew where she was,” Wolf noted. “I think our defense did okay. I don’t think it was necessarily their mistakes. It’s just when we had the ball we weren’t hanging on to it.

“Jessica Koziol, who is a freshman, I thought did some nice things today. She kept working to get in position. Most of the time we weren’t getting it to her but at least she was working to get into a good spot.”

The Mustangs are already in a good spot with four games remaining in the regular season.

“We just want to get ready for playoffs and finish out the season strong coming into playoffs and work hard in practice to keep getting better,” Zurales said.