Mustangs fall to Dukes in clash of WSC champions

By Mike Garofola

With both Downers Grove South and York already having clinched their respective division titles, Thursday night's match between the two best in the West Suburban Conference figured to be little more than a friendly in front of a senior night audience in Elmhurst.

What the big crowd got instead was a version of a modern-day shootout at the O.K. Corral with the homeside Dukes getting into the back of the net one more time than the visiting Mustangs in a 4-3 victory.

"I was really wondering how we would come out tonight after such an emotional win on Tuesday when we beat Lyons in OT to win our championship, but all-in-all, I was really happy with the effort that we all put in," said Duke Christina Ordonez.

She opened the scoring on the night for Silver champ York (15-4-0), then got the eventual game-winner at 76 minutes to help cancel a goal from Mustang striker Keri Kujawa as the visitors searched for the late equalizer.

"I didn't think there would be seven goals scored tonight," offered Kujawa, now with a team-high 21 as the Gold champion Mustangs (14-4-3) head into the postseason.

"We played hard (at) times, and when we did we had a lot of success with out attack, but we've got to play hard for 80 minutes starting next week when the regionals begin."

The Dukes lacked little pace and energy in the opening quarter hour, and rightly so, according to head coach Rachael Shepherd, who noticed her girls were moving in slow-motion after the opening whistle.

"We kind of expected some sort of a letdown after we played almost 100 minutes of intense soccer with so much at stake, so I wasn't surprised to see so many tired legs out there at the start," said Shepherd.

However, Ordonez awoke her mates and the crowd on this almost balmy night inside the Dukes' cozy stadium with a spectacular strike from the left side which exploded into the back inside netting at 13 minutes.

"I was just at the end of a long throw from Katie (Gratzianna), then just turned and fired," said Ordonez, who made her scoring exploit seem almost a matter of fact, when in fact, in was a wonderfully-struck shot.

The Mustangs finally increased the pressure on the hosts, much of it coming from Kujawa, and her partner up top, Sarrah Ludwig, who impressed DGS head coach Barry Jacobson with her pace and movement during the 80 minutes of play the sophomore recorded.

"We've been working with Sarrah all season long and trying to slowly make her one (to) target up top for us, and tonight may have been her best all-around effort of the year for her," said Jacobson.

Ludwig would give the Mustangs plenty of energy alongside Kujawa, and if she wasn't winning the air war against the Dukes, the 15-goal scorer could be seen running hard at the backline, trying to induce turnovers or opportunities for her mates and herself, as well.

She helped create the goal which brought the Mustangs even at 31 minutes after she flicked forward a ball from Kujawa to the back post where Megan Martin finished.

Moments later, freshmen Ellie Ordonez put the Dukes back ahead on a goal in which Jacobson and his staff had hoped would be erased by an offsides flag.

During intermission, Shepherd turned inspirational speaker, and found the right buttons to push to light a fire under her Dukes.

"Coach told us at the break that this was a match between the two best teams in each of our divisions, so let's go out there in the second half and try to prove who is the best team overall in the conference," said Christina Ordonez with a smile.

The Mustangs must have heard some of that halftime speech also, as the visitors were just as involved in the opening exchanges of the second half as their opponents, giving all on hand more than enough action as this match sprang to life.

Jessica Bronke and Martin combined to force freshmen keeper Anna Bell Lansdowne to punch an attempt wide, then later, Kujawa would have a go, only to she her shot go wide.

After a nice build-up from Lauren Rusk, Martin and Flo Beshiri ended with Kujawa heading wide, the Dukes came back and stunned DGS to go up 3-1 when a superb run and carry from MaryKate Cicinelli resulted in Courtney McHugh finishing at the tail-end of a terrific center channel run.

However, the Mustangs seized back the momentum quickly, when Kujawa thumped another Ludwig helper past Lansdowne near the spot.

The goal at 62 minutes signalled a furious finale as both sides opened things up to make for an entertaining and fast-paced closing.

Lansdowne, who raced off her line on several occasions with courage and conviction all evening long, did so on back-to-back sequences.

One came on a well-aimed free-kick from Bronke, in which the rookie was roughed up inside her six, and afterwards, when she beat Ludwig to a 50-50 near the spot.

"If Anna Bell played like a freshman tonight, we may have been in trouble," suggested Shepherd. "But instead, she played like a veteran."

Ordonez would give the Dukes some breathing room with a brilliant individual effort that saw the sophomore collect a short clear, before firing past a helpless Amanda Meyers from 25 yards.

"We gave up a couple of bad goals and watched them score some great goals, as well, but we still accomplished everything that we set out to do tonight, and found out some things in the process," Jacobson said afterwards.

"We're a little banged up right now and had a shorter bench than usual, but we'll tighten things up a little bit in the back, and we'll be okay for next week."

The Mustangs would respond once again to make it 4-3 when Kujawa and Ludwig would get together in the 79th minute as a Kujuwa cracker in close had enough pace to ricochet off, and around Lansdowne for the final goal of the evening.

"It's been a really long week for the team and after a sluggish first-half, they really responded with an inspired second-half of soccer," began Shepherd.

"We were much more organized and would eventually step-up our play after a few adjustments here and there to play a very good second half of soccer.

"This is a fun, very coachable team to be around, and I feel that we are quite capable of having a good run in the state playoffs."

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