Mustangs edged for own tournament title by Neuqua

By Matt Le Cren
Photos courtesy of Kathy Nuccio

To the aggressors go the spoils. That was the lesson Downers Grove South learned Saturday.

Despite a fine effort, the Mustangs had to settle for bridesmaid honors at their own tournament after falling to Neuqua Valley 2-1 at Doerhoefer Park.

Downers South (4-2), which would have captured the four-team, round-robin tourney with a victory, led 1-0 in the first half only to see the Wildcats (3-0-1) use their aggressiveness to rally in the second half and overcome the Mustangs’ formidable back wall.

"Everything was positive," sophomore defender Jacquelyn Thate said. "It was just we could have had a stronger second half. We didn't push out like we needed to. Once we cleared the ball it tended to keep coming back."

The two sides each managed five shots in an evenly played first half. The Mustangs struck first in the 14th minute when junior midfielder Megan Martin converted a penalty kick after Jess Pikul was tripped by Neuqua goalie Alexa Wilde.

The Wildcats got the equalizer in the 37th minute. Freshman Gianna Dal Pozzo got the ball on the right wing just across midfield and made an impressive run past Pikul and Kimmy Grimmer into the penalty area before beating sophomore keeper Amanda Meyers.

That play was the only blemish in an otherwise stellar effort by defenders Thate, Grimmer, Pikul and Flo Beshiri. Thate and Grimmer saved two goals by each kicking a ball off the line.

The defense has been a strong point for the Mustangs, who are pleased with the rapidly improving Meyers, a varsity rookie who made five saves.

"We've been working really hard to get to this point and everyone played a really hard game, so we're just going to try and learn from the mistakes we made today," Grimmer said.

"You have to have a really strong defense [when playing] the best teams in the state or else you won't get anywhere."

Neuqua, which out shot the Mustangs 11-3 in the second half, took the lead in the 46th minute on Noel Leary's header off a cross from Morgan Mulcahy.

Downers South's offense wasn't able to respond, though the Mustangs did have a great chance to tie things less than a minute after Leary's goal when the ball came loose in the crease.

Lauren Rusk had an open net but poked the ball just wide of the right post.

"I thought if we had been a little more aggressive we could have probably punched that in, but she made the effort," Downers South coach Barry Jacobson said.

"We sat back a little bit too much tonight but we'll work that out. It's a long year."

The Mustangs got off only two shots after that, both long-range efforts from sophomore midfielder Jessica Bronke.

Wilde stopped both on one bounce, bobbling the second one before hanging on as no Mustang was in the vicinity.

"Once they scored that second goal, we kind of dropped our heads down and we could have played more long balls and got our forwards more involved and our midfield more pushed up," Thate said.

"But they played a good game and they kept attacking the goal and they never quit. I think we played good defensively. It's just we didn't have that many opportunities on offense."

Even so, Jacobson was happy with his squad's 2-1 record in the tournament.

"It was a good tournament," he said. "I felt we had a little better first half than second, but I thought we played well. Our keeper played outstanding, so we had a lot of positives. We're really happy with the effort."

The Mustangs return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Proviso East to open West Suburban Conference Gold Division play.