Kujawa's late goal lifts Mustangs over Naperville Central

By Eddie Burns

Since Downers Grove South made its run to a fourth-place finish in 2008 coach Barry Jacobson and the Mustangs have been in search of a quality victory that the program could hang its hat on.

The Mustangs nailed down that key win on Friday night when they beat Naperville Central by a 1-0 decision in an opening round match of the Naperville Invite.

“This is a signature win,” Jacobson said. “We’ve been talking about getting a signature win for about two years. We’re been right there with people, but we haven’t taken the next step, so this was good for us.”

Downers South backed up its effort on Friday with a 2-1 win against Palatine on Saturday to capture its pool in the tournament. The Mustangs (10-2-2) now advance to the quarterfinal portion of the Naperville Invite where they will play unbeaten Carl Sandburg at 7 p.m. Thursday at Naperville Central.

“I think we’re playing really well right now,” said Downers South’s Keri Kujawa, who scored the winning goal against Central. “We’ve been able to show that we can hold our own against the top teams that have been ranked. We want to make a statement in the tournament we’re off to a good start.”

Kujawa’s goal against Central was the result of hustle and hard work. The Mustangs’ goal developed when they managed to apply pressure on Naperville Central goalie Jill D’Amico. South’s goal occurred on a ball crossed into Central’s penalty box, where Kujawa beat D’Amico to the ball and flicked the ball into the goal for the lone score.

“The ball came off a good cross – almost like a chip in the air -- and it was onsides,” Kujawa said. “I just went up for the ball and challenged the goalie and it went in. It was a great feeling to get that goal because there was only 15 minutes left and we were coming down to the wire. It was definitely a relief.”

The Mustangs’ defense was able to make the goal stand. Downers South played without three-year starting sweeper Kimmy Grimmer, who was lost to a season-ending leg injury in practice on Thursday.

Grimmer’s injury forced Jacobson to juggle his lineup and the Mustangs made it work. Freshman Lauren Tusek was brought up to start on defense and Jess Pikul was moved to Grimmer’s old position.

“Grimmer’s injury occurred during practice, which gave us little time to react, but the players responded really well,” Jacobson said. “Pikul played well. We’re disappointed about what happened to Kimmy, but we’ll bounce back.”

The Mustangs limited the Redhawks to one shot on goal. The Redhawks’ best chance to score occurred when there was a scramble in front of the Mustangs’ net in the 55th minute, but goalie Amanda Meyers stepped up and stopped Central’s Julianna Nania’s attempt.

Outside of an Alex Coon restart that hit the crossbar in the opening half, the Redhawks had little to show through the air or on their restarts.

“We had to stop Hillary Scott in the air and I thought we did a pretty good job of that,” Jacobson said. “We limited them to one corner kick and on their free kicks. We did a nice job of playing defense. We knew we had to stop their set plays in the air and I thought we limited those. We didn’t foul and give them cheap stuff and that was a big part of our game and why we won.”

Jacquelyn Thate also did solid job of marking Central’s Gina Maddi.

“We changed some things defensively,” Jacobson said. “It was kind of ugly. They had the better shots, but we sneaked one in.”

The match was physical. The Mustangs drew two yellow cards, but it is a style of soccer that works for them.

“There was a lot of pushing going on out there,” said Ludwig, who received one of Downers South’s yellow cards. “I think playing physical makes the game that much more fun. I like physical games against tough competition.”

The Mustangs have not won the Naperville Invite and know that if they play well against Sandburg and continue to advance that they could leave a lasting impression on the field.

“I think this tournament is a lot of fun,” Ludwig said. “We get to play all sorts of different teams rather than some of the other teams we see and beat 9-0. It is a lot more fun when you beat a good team 1-0. We’re hoping for the best. It will be exciting to see what we can do.”