Late rally lifts Downers Grove South past Tigers

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By Matt Le Cren

The tide turned twice Saturday night when Plainfield North met Downers Grove South at Doerhoefer Park in Downers Grove.

The first time it happened the Tigers appeared to be sailing toward an upset, but in a matter of minutes fortunes reversed and the host Mustangs swept to a 3-1 victory.

Downers South (2-1) controlled the play in a scoreless first half and peppered the net with shots early in the second half but were thwarted by the play of Tigers goalie Paige Polonus, who made three tough saves shortly after intermission.

Plainfield North (2-2) broke the ice with a goal against the run of play when senior midfielder Stephanie Barr’s 45-yard free kick deflected off a Downers South defender with 24 minutes remaining.

"A free kick is always an opportunity to score and I try to look at it like that," Barr said. "[My range] is pretty far. Over the summer we went to a tournament in Iowa and I was hitting them probably five yards in from half field, which is crazy."

Crazy can describe the final 20 minutes of action. The Tigers had two opportunities to go up 2-0, but a 30-yard free kick by Barr went whizzing a couple feet wide of the left post and a hard shot by sophomore midfielder Ashley Auble was stopped by Mustangs goalie Amanda Meyers.

The Mustangs then took advantage of two foul calls to set up their first two goals. The first was an indirect kick from just barely outside the top left corner of the penalty area.

Downers South’s Flo Beshiri tapped the ball to Megan Martin, who drilled a shot under the crossbar for her second goal of the year to tie the game with 10 minutes remaining.

"I knew I had to put that in so we couldn't freak out about [being behind]," Martin said. "After the first goal we got the momentum going. Everyone kept pushing; we needed another one. We started getting it wide and getting it across quicker."

Less than two minutes after Martin's strike, a free kick from the midfield led to the game-winning goal.

Beshiri ran onto a long ball in the left side of the box, corralled it before it went over the end line and crossed in front to Cara Doogan, who beat Polonus to the ball and finished from near the right post.

"We kept up the pressure and we got two calls that I didn't agree with, but I'm not the referee," Barr said. "That's the game of soccer. We were doing good after our goal but then we kind of broke down after theirs' and we couldn't get the momentum up again."

Plainfield North coach Jane Crowe wasn't happy with the two calls, either, but said it shouldn't have led to the breakdown.

"They had the better of the play in the first half," Crowe said. "I felt like we were all over them in the second half and then [there were] two calls that I'm not sure I agree with. But we can't put ourselves in that situation.

"I told [the Tigers] if we finish and go up 2-0, then that doesn't matter. The first [goal] there's nothing you can do and then second one we just didn't get a clear."

The Mustangs quickly dashed any hopes the Tigers had of a comeback by scoring again at the 5:30 mark. This time Lauren Rusk rushed into the box and crossed to her right to Keri Kujawa 10 yards in front of the net.

Kujawa made a nifty dribble move to get around a defender before poking it past Polonus. The Mustangs ended up outshooting the Tigers 14-12, with most of that production coming in the final 10 minutes.

"We finally started picking up the intensity level the last 15 minutes," Downers South coach Barry Jacobson said. "[Martin's] goal helped us get going.

"We started flying a little bit and that's what we need to do. We've been training them to knock it around and we'll get better."

Jacobson was pleased with the effort of his back line of Beshiri, Jess Pikul, Jacquelyn Thate and Kimmy Grimmer. Meyers, a sophomore who is in her first varsity season, made five saves.

The win gave the Mustangs a chance to erase the memories of Tuesday's 4-2 loss to Lincoln-Way North in which they blew a 2-0 lead.

"We needed this big time," Martin said. "At practice everyone was just crabby and so this will bring our team back up and everyone will start playing harder again. We're starting to work together really well."

For the undersized Tigers, games against teams like Downers South are part of an upgraded schedule intended to toughen them for the playoffs.

"It will definitely help us down the line," Barr said. "A lot of the teams we're playing now were seeded higher than us [last year] and we've never played them before, so we're trying to beef up our schedule.

"We're definitely scrappy. We don't have a lot of size, but we get in there and hold our own for our size."

Still, it was hard for Crowe to smile after the defeat.

"It's positive because we played against a good team and I didn't think we got outplayed," she said, "but it is frustrating because we did come here to win."