Mustangs blank Red Devils in tournament opener

 

By Matt Le Cren

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Photos courtesy of Harrison Bull

Like most freshmen, Downers Grove South forward Stephanie Zurales didn't know exactly what to expect when the season started.

"I was just hoping to fight for a starting position and just get a lot of playing time because I know this team has a lot of talented players," Zurales said Wednesday. "I just want a chance to get in there and try and make something happen."

She got it, and she has.

Zurales won a starting spot up top opposite senior Keri Kujawa and has demonstrated she belongs.

She tallied her third goal in five games Wednesday as the Mustangs cruised to a 5-0 victory over host Hinsdale Central on the opening day of the Downers Grove South Invite.

Zurales' goal, which gave Downers South (4-0-1) a 2-0 advantage with 14:27 left in the first half, came on a 25-foot left-footed rocket. By the way, Zurales is right-footed.

"I've been working on my left foot now, just trying to get my left and right even so I can be good on both sides," Zurales said.

"She's been scoring some goals with her left foot," Downers South coach Barry Jacobson said. "We're trying to get her to shoot more with her right foot but she's getting on it left foot more and more.

"She's a really nice player. She's one of the better freshmen we've had in a long time. She can score which is a really good bonus for us, so we're real happy about that. She's a good complement to Kujawa."

That's high praise, considering Kujawa is a four-year starter who as a freshman scored the goal that sent the Mustangs to the state quarterfinals.

Kujawa, who scored 24 goals last year, has three thus far this spring after scoring once against the Red Devils and is one of the older players who have made Zurales feel comfortable.

"I think 'Kuj' is a really good forward so they're always going to be on her tough, so it leaves me open, which is a good opportunity," Zurales said.

"I was a little nervous but the girls just really make me feel welcome and just distribute the ball whenever I'm open."

Senior midfielder Megan Martin, who assisted on the goal by Zurales and started the scoring on a 25-yard free kick with 25:27 left in the opening period, is impressed with the rookie's play.

"She already is making a big impact, but we're expecting a lot out of her, so she's been doing really good and she likes pressure," Martin said.

"We needed her. She's playing really hard, holding onto the ball and being really patient on the outside, doing whatever we ask of her."

Hinsdale Central (2-2) actually put some pressure on the Mustangs for the first 10 minutes of the match but missed a pair of early chances.

The Red Devils, who went to the locker room down 3-0 after Flo Beshiri converted a penalty kick for Downers South 57 seconds before intermission, weren't able to keep up with the Mustangs' speed.

"Their overall team speed I thought was a glaring strength of theirs," Hinsdale Central coach Skip Begley said. "They can put some balls into space and they have some kids who can run down balls and be dangerous up top. They're big and they're strong and they strike balls well. I thought they put some nice balls on the back of the frame.

"We actually played pretty good I thought for the first 10-15 minutes, pinging the ball around a little bit, got in wide, got some good chances in front. But we talked about with the kids at halftime that we had a couple chances and couldn't put the ball on goal and the first chance (Downers South) gets at the top of the box, they put it on goal and it's a goal and it’s 1-0 and our chins went down. Things started tumbling and it didn't tumble well for us after that."

Emily Wauer and Kujawa scored in the second half for the Mustangs, who could have had a few more goals. A shot by Sarrah Ludwig hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced in front of the goal line and Red Devils goalie Julia Gesior (6 saves) made the save.

Gesior, a senior defender, had never played between the pipes before and had never practiced the position until Tuesday, but was pressed into emergency duty because Hinsdale was without all three of its goalies.

Sophomore Kathryn Knoch [back] and freshman Emily Brosius [broken wrist] are out with injuries and freshman Riley Glenn is on vacation.

"Someone had to step up," Gesior said. "It was terrifying. I thought I did pretty well. We have a lot of work to do but I thought we worked well from the back."

Begley was impressed with the effort of Gesior, who will be in the net for the two remaining games of the tournament. She was responsible only for the goal by Wauer, who pounced on a rebound when a hard shot from Martin went through Gesior's hands.

"You can't talk to a kid and say 9 o'clock yesterday morning you're going to play goal," Begley said. "Obviously she struggled a little bit in the first half. She made some nice saves in the second half and came out and played all right.

"But that's just part of trying to find our feet right now. I'm a big fan of Julia's. She'll do whatever we ask her to and you can't point any fingers at her. She did a nice job."

The Red Devils have a legitimate scoring threat in senior forward Mallory Feinstein, but Begley said the team needs more than that.

"We'd like to see a little bit more leadership out on the field," Begley said. "I think we're missing a real leader out on the field that can get them organized and overcome obstacles that happen during the game, that we can be tough on our teammates but still accepting of them.

"That's a tough role and I think we're still struggling to find that on-the-field leadership. But I think it will come. We'll probably try some different combinations tomorrow against Neuqua. We'll see what we like and what we don’t like."

There was plenty for Downers South to like. Goalies Katelyn Laraia and Amanda Myers combined to make six saves to share the Mustangs' second shutout, while the back line led by Kimmy Grimmer, Lori Niehaus and Jess Pikul was solid.

"We played hard," Jacobson said. "It was a good game. We've got a long way to go to play with the big, top teams, but this is good.

"[The Red Devils] play physical and they came at us early on, so we sustained it pretty well until we made some adjustments and did some nice things."