Wolves shut out at Downers Grove South
By Dave Owen

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What began as a reunion of Downers Grove South’s 2004 state championship coaching staff on Thursday became a big-time 2012 breakthrough for Mustangs’ junior Andrew Grabavoy.

Grabavoy’s first two goals of his varsity career sparked the host Mustangs (3-1) to a 3-0 victory over Oswego East (0-3-1) in Hinsdale Central Red Devil Cup play. The win sends Downers South into the Cup finals at 11 a.m. Saturday against defending state champion Morton.

 “Three goals for us is a season high total,” Downers South coach Jon Stapleton said, “and it was nice to see Andrew Grabavoy get his first varsity goals. He’s worked hard. He was injured last year and missed most of the season, so it was good for him. I think it’s one of those things that as coaches we kept saying, ‘once he finds the back of the net, he’ll relax a little bit.’ And sure enough tonight is a multi-goal game for him.”

Grabavoy’s passing helped put Downers South ahead 1-0 with 9:18 left in the first half. On a dribble drive up the left wing, he sent a crossing pass to an open Sam LaLonde, whose low 15-yard drive found the lower right corner of the net.

“I thought in the first half we played pretty well,” said Oswego East coach Steve Szymanski, who was an assistant coach to Stapleton on Downers South’s 2004 state title team. “We only made one mistake and they capitalized. It’s been kind of the story of our year. We haven’t played awful, but we’ve made bad mistakes and teams have capitalized.”

Grabavoy was denied on great scoring chances in the 13th minute (a shot just wide of the net) and 4:30 before halftime (a leaping one-handed deflection out of bounds by Oswego East goalkeeper Sean Phetchanphung).

But Grabavoy didn’t have to wait much longer to dent the goal column.

His first varsity goal came just 1:16 into the second half, when the junior raced in on right wing and fired a point blank low shot into the net for a 2-0 lead.

“It felt great,” Grabavoy said of the goal. “I’ve been waiting for a long time. I was moving better off the ball than I usually am. I was feeling good – I was on.

“Everyone was playing me great balls, so it was really easy for me today. I was getting a lot of space in the middle.”

Grabavoy produced the play of the night with 5:32 left. While falling down, he drove a low 15-yard shot into the net to finish the scoring.

“He’s been a good player and has been so close, even on some other ones tonight,” Stapleton said. “It was nice to see him hit the back of the net.

“In our pregame we kind of challenged the kids to be a little more aggressive in the final third. We’ve been working on possessing the ball and being more dangerous by switching the point of attack, but sometimes in the final third we weren’t looking  to take people on. Tonight we did that, and it worked out. We just want to be more consistent, whether in possession or attack minded near the goal.”

Also strong on the attack were Downers South’s Tom Wendt (who short-hopped a nice 35-yard shot off the post in the 17th minute of play) and Jack Freko (denied 24 minutes into the second half on a diving save by Oswego East keeper Danny Madrigal).

“We’ve been really trying to win the ball more in the air," Grabavoy said. "We’ve been kind of weak with that, but we did a great job today. And we’ve been trying to follow our passes and get the ball back and move to the open space. That worked today."

In their early season quest for a goalkeeper, the Wolves used standout field players Phetchanpheng and Madrigal for one half each in the nets on Thursday.

“Guys are still figuring things out, and we’re still trying to figure out who to put in goal and who to put up top,” Szymanski said. “Sean makes great saves in the first half, then you put him up top and he creates opportunities for us.

“He’s our best forward, and Danny who played goal in the second half is probably our best defender. Neither of them are goalies by trade – they’re just guys that will go out and do it.”

Madrigal also made nice diving saves in the final 10 minutes on shots by Grabavoy and Jordan Pawlicki.

“Danny’s our best sweeper, and he made two impressive saves for a guy who’s not a goalie,” Szymanski said. And Oliver (Czopek) always does a good job in the middle winning balls. But I think we looked a little sluggish today.

“We had two guys out sick yesterday (Cooper Fell and co-captain Danny Ruiz) so they didn’t get to start, and three games in four days is tough when we don’t play a lot of guys. Today was probably the most we’ve subbed all year. This was the first game Danny Ruiz had played all year, and he’s a returning all-conference player for us. I thought he really played well.”

Downers South’s defense also played well, rebounding from a 3-0 loss to Lincoln-Way East two days earlier. Shining moments in the shutout included goalkeeper Nick Tannenbaum’s  save of a 15-yard shot by Oswego East’s David Hernandez.

Playing forward in the second half, Phetchanpheng’s pass set up Hernandez’s chance, and he had his own near miss of the net on a 10-yard shot with 24 minutes left.

In the first half, the Mustangs’ 6-foot-4 defender David Drews and Nick Gruic combined to thwart an Oswego East threat at the top of the box, and Tannenbaum made a save on a 15-yard shot off a corner kick by Joey Coliton.

“David Drews had a nice game tonight,” Stapleton said. “We kind of fell apart a little bit Tuesday defensively, but we’ve been pretty solid in three or four matches. That’s a credit to Nick Tannenbaum, Nick Gruic, David, Nick Rossi and Scott Holakovsky. They’ve been a pretty solid group.

“I thought David was aggressive tonight. He won balls in the air which kind of set the tone. Nick has been solid, and it was a good defensive effort by all those guys.”

Szymanski played at Downers South and began his coaching career there, making Thursday a special game regardless of the score.

“Jon and I are still close friends,” Szymanski said. “And I grew up right down the street, so a lot of history here. It’s always a good time coming back.”

“We talk all summer about our teams,” Stapleton said, “and probably know each other’s teams better than the next guy. I enjoyed the time he was here coaching, and he’s doing a great job at Oswego East. I always look forward to this match.”

With more experience and better health, Szymanski looks forward to better times ahead for his team.

“We have to limit our mistakes and play with more confidence,” Szymanski said. “We have a lot of guys worried about making mistakes instead of just playing soccer. They’ve been playing their whole lives, so just play. We haven’t had winning results, so that’s in the back of their minds too, not wanting to mess up.

“We only have four guys returning with serious minutes, so until we get cohesive and playing together, it might take a little while. Hopefully not long. We have good kids that work hard, but we have to get the finishing results.”