Dukes put four on the board vs. Downers Grove South

 

By Matt Le Cren

The moment York has been building toward for three years has arrived.

The Dukes have anticipated for a while that this year’s senior class had the ability to accomplish great things and it turns out that forecast was accurate.

Capping off the best regular season in school history, York celebrated Senior Night by knocking off Downers Grove South 4-1 Thursday night in a battle of conference champions in Elmhurst.

Two days after beating Lyons Township 3-2 in double overtime to capture their second straight West Suburban Conference Silver Division title, the Dukes (17-4-1) rolled to their seventh consecutive win and enter the playoffs having won 14 of their past 15 matches. Their 2-3 start is now a distant memory.

“I think we played really well,” senior forward Angela Bianchi said. “I think in the beginning (of the season) we were playing well, we just couldn’t get our shots off and now our shots are finally going in and it’s showing.

“It’s amazing. Everyone plays well together and everyone’s really good friends. Most of us were on the team since we were sophomores so we’ve been playing together for a long time.”

Of York’s 10 seniors, five will play college soccer, including Bianchi, who is headed to Judson. The others are Mary Kate Cicinelli (DePaul), Taylor Navarro (Augustana), Lauren Scalise (Webster) and Danielle Vujovic (Loras). Defender Meryl Cripe will play basketball at Grand Valley State.

“I’m very excited,” Vujovic said. “I think we can go very far if we keep this up. We knew all along this was the year to do it and we want to go all the way.”

Vujovic and Bianchi keyed the offense against Downers South (17-3-1), which had won its last six games and 12 of the last 13. Despite resting starters Keri Kujawa, Flo Beshiri, Brittany Dietz and Lori Niehaus to give their nagging injuries time to heal for next week’s playoffs, the Mustangs actually controlled play for long stretches of the first half and outshot the Dukes 12-7 before intermission.

The visitors grabbed a 1-0 lead at the 27:12 mark when Jessica Bronke headed home a corner kick from Megan Martin. It was Bronke’s 10th goal of the season and Martin’s team-leading 16th assist.

But the lead didn’t last long. Just 2:03 later, Vujovic teed up a 32-yard free kick and sent a liner toward the lower right corner of the Downers South net. Mustangs goalie Amanda Meyers got both gloves on it but was unable to stop it.

“That was my first (goal) off my free kick,” Vujovic said. “Today I was feeling it. When I took that first one I was like, ‘Wow, this is it,’ and it went in. So I’ve just got to keep doing what I was doing and hopefully make some more when the playoffs start.”

She almost made another one 14 minutes after the first. This time Vujovic blasted a 35-yarder to the same spot. Backup goalie Katelyn Laraia, a freshman who replaced Meyers 10 minutes before, lunged to her left and made the save but could not hold on. Bianchi was there to ram home the rebound and put York ahead 2-1 with 11:22 left in the half.

“She has an awesome kick,” said Bianchi, who has 14 goals. “Her free kicks have always been awesome, but today they showed how awesome they are and she just dominates the middle.”

Downers South coach Barry Jacobson was happy with his team’s overall effort but not pleased with his goalkeeping.

“(The Dukes) are all right,” he said. “When you give them goals, what do you expect? I thought it was one of the best games we’ve played. We had plenty of chances to score.”

They certainly did. The Mustangs unleashed 17 shots, but York goalie Anna Bell Lansdowne made five saves in the first half, including two stops on Stephanie Zurales on partial breakaways in the box, and her replacement, senior Kelly Boots, added two saves in the second half. The visitors also blew two wide-open chances and headed three corner kicks over the bar.

It all added up to sense of inevitable doom for the Mustangs, whose defense led by Jess Pikul, Kimmy Grimmer and Cara Doogan held York leading scorer Christina Ordonez without a shot for the first 70 minutes.

But Ordonez broke through with 8:48 left in the game to score her 20th goal, taking a pass from Sarah Sassanelli and beating Laraia (seven saves) on a breakaway. Sam Luke added another insurance goal for the Dukes when she boomed a 35-yard shot under the crossbar with 3:10 left. It was the first time Downers South has given up more than two goals in a game this season; the Mustangs had allowed only 10 goals prior to this game.

“(The Mustangs) are very tough,” Vujovic said. “First half we played very well and I’m very proud of us. I think we deserved those last two goals.”

So what changed for the Dukes since their 2-3 start?

“We started off a little slow, but once we started playing as a team and getting our stuff together, working hard at practice, everything just clicked,” Vujovic said. “We started connecting passes and playing to feet and everything started happening. I think our whole mental game was a lot stronger coming into all these games. It helped us perform better.”

The Dukes open the playoffs Tuesday with a regional semifinal game against Kennedy or Noble Street Charter Muchin. York is the No. 3 seed at its own sectional but has beaten both top-seeded Lyons and No. 2 seed Oak Park and River Forest.

“Our ultimate goal is to win state but we want to take it one game at a time,” Bianchi said.

“We gave a good run right now,” said first-year York coach Krzysztof Halupka. “I think the girls (have been) working hard throughout the entire season. The results come from the hard work and I think we’ve kind of found our rhythm.

:"I’m talking about the team defense, the positive attitude, the mental focus before the game. Our approach to this whole process is one game at a time and we’re basically a focused team that respects every opponent but at the same time we’re going out there and we’re going to fight and run at you and attack.”

Downers South has a rough postseason road to hoe. The Mustangs are seeded fifth at the Waubonsie Valley Sectional, the toughest group in the state.

They will open Tuesday against No. 12 seed Oswego East in a regional semifinal at Bolingbrook and would probably face defending state champion Waubonsie Valley in the regional final.

“It’s a tough sectional,” Jacobson said. “We’ll be all right. Once we get Kujawa back, we get Flo back, we get Dietz back, and Niehaus back, that’s four starters.”