Mustangs capture share of ninth straight WSC Gold title

By Matt Le Cren

The injuries continue to pile up for Downers Grove South, but so do the victories.

Playing without five starters, two of whom are out for the season, the Mustangs knocked off Morton 3-1 Wednesday night in Downers Grove to clinch a share of their ninth consecutive West Suburban Conference Gold Division championship.

They can win the title outright by beating Leyden in their final conference match next Tuesday.

It was the 55th consecutive league victory for the Mustangs (13-3-3, 5-0), whose last loss to a WSC Gold foe came on April 3, 2001, when they lost 2-1 on penalty kicks to Hinsdale South.

"For them it's more of a legacy," Downers South coach Barry Jacobson said. "This will be nine years in a row that we've won it and they see it as something that they want to just keep continuing.

"So their motivation is not to be the first team to [not win it]. Teams are getting better and playing harder."

That includes Morton (10-3-3, 5-1), which has never beaten the Mustangs but would have captured the league crown with a victory.

As it was, the score was much closer than usual. With a healthy squad, Jacobson believes his team would have an easier time with teams like Morton.

"We could be happier," Downers South forward Keri Kujawa said. "It's just we're missing so many people that we aren't the same as how we initially started the season.

"We're just playing with what we have and this is like the best we can do."

South's best was still good enough this time. Kujawa scored two goals, giving her 18 on the season, and Sarrah Ludwig added a goal and an assist.

The pair has combined to score 32 of their squad's 65 goals and nine of the 36 assists.

"They've been pretty much doing it all year," Jacobson said. "Jess Bronke played a nice game. It wasn't pretty, but we have to do what we have to do to get through this."

After several near-misses in the early going, Kujawa broke the ice with 24:24 left in the first half when she ran onto freshman Brittany Dietz's long pass from the left wing and scored from six yards out.

Morton's pesky defense prevented South's offense from getting in the flow and the visitors stunned everyone by tying the game with 4:57 remaining in the half on a 30-yard shot by Karen Santos.

"That was a nice shot, so there's nothing you can do on that," Kujawa said.

The Mustangs nearly grabbed the lead right back but Kujawa's 28-yard free kick was saved by Morton goalie Karen Navarette at the 4:10 mark and then Dietz headed a Kujawa corner kick wide left with 1:45 left.

The hosts had a scare a minute before intermission when South goalie Amanda Meyers lost the ball near the top of the penalty area.

But freshman defender Lauren Tusek saved the day by blocking a Morton shot from just outside the arc.

Tusek was called up to the varsity and immediately put in the starting lineup two weeks ago when star defender Kimmy Grimmer broke her leg.

The back line was further weakened when sophomore Flo Beshiri suffered a knee injury and is out indefinitely.

Downers South is also temporarily without junior playmaker Megan Martin and had another scare in the first half when Dietz had a ball kicked into her face.

"We just don't have our team on the field," Jacobson said. "We're finding ways to win. It hasn't been pretty but we've lost so many kids, so many key players. And they're battling. We're asking a lot from some kids."

One of them is Ludwig. The sophomore put the Mustangs ahead to stay with 33:35 left in the second half when she scored her 14th goal, heading home a 40-yard free kick from Bronke.

Ludwig set up Kujawa's second goal with 10:24 to go, running into the right side of the box and crossing to Kujawa, who made one touch to her right to shake a defender before ripping a 15-yard shot that was too hot for Navarette to handle.

"It was a nice shot," Kujawa said. "I had to work for both of [the goals]."

South now has five days off before facing Leyden. With two games left before their playoff opener on May 18, the Mustangs just want to get through the rest of the regular season without losing any more players.

"Definitely that's the mentality at this point," Kujawa said.

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