Mustangs blank Bartlett to capture third straight victory

 

By Matt Le Cren

Nicole Janowiak had to watch helplessly from the bench last season as Downers Grove South made a stirring run to third place at the state finals to send retiring coach Barry Jacobson out on a high note.

Janowiak had been getting plenty of playing time in the Mustangs’ first four games before suffering a torn ACL against Lockport on March 22.

Nearly a year has passed since that painful moment and Janowiak has returned with a vengeance. The senior midfielder has recorded two goals and an assist as the Mustangs have raced off to a 3-0 start under new coach Abby Anderson.

Both of Janowiak’s goals have come on Downers South’s home field, the same turf where she was injured. The latest was beautiful finish in traffic as she was falling down off a corner kick from Ava Porlier with 18 seconds remaining Monday night to cap a 4-0 victory over Bartlett.

“Oh, it felt great,” Janowiak said. “It was a great way to end the game.”

Janowiak, a talented all-around athlete and sharp student, made a relatively quick recovery from her surgery, seeing substantial time on the basketball court this winter.

She has shown no ill effects from the injury on the soccer field while playing a starring role as one of the instigators of a surprisingly robust attack that has scored 13 goals so far.

“I’m feeling good,” Janowiak said. “I definitely feel much better. I’m confident.

“I’m looking to lead the team and work through the middle with passes and also obviously try to score, too.”

Janowiak’s play has been a revelation to Anderson, who faces quite a challenge in replacing Jacobson, who started the program in 1984 and went 489-144-58 in 29 seasons to become the state’s all-time winningest coach. Most of the top players from last year’s squad that captured the school’s fifth trophy graduated.

“She’s been a really awesome surprise for us, not only her soccer skill, which obviously you saw tonight is dominating, but her ability to control the middle and distribute and really organize our central midfield has been huge,” Anderson said. “Also, just her leadership has been a constant.

“She has been a welcome surprise because [of] not really knowing how she was going to come back, not only fitness and soccer-wise but just kind of [mentally] recovering from an ACL and playing at the same stadium where you did it, you tend to have some worries.”

Those worries seem to have been banished and Anderson was pleased to see Janowiak find the back of the net Monday after working tirelessly to control the play in the midfield.

“Having a great kid with a great attitude and a great work ethic, of course you’re going to be happy when she puts one in the back of the net,” Anderson said.

“Any goal that a kid works hard like that for and that looks nice, that’s come off possession, possession, possession, which is what we’ve tried to preach the last few games is really maintain possession, [is what we’re looking for].”

Though they have yet to get into the meat of their schedule, the Mustangs have looked surprisingly fluid offensively, with five players combining for six goals in Saturday’s 6-1 win over Oswego East. It would seem the transition to Anderson’s coaching style has been seamless.

“We’re just trying to learn how to work together with a new coach and just really never taking anything for granted in any game,” Janowiak said.

“We’re definitely working on connecting with passes more, looking for balls to the feet and I think it’s working really well. We’re working well as a team and just trying to learn each other’s games, really push it forward but also have the strong D to rely on in the back.”

Both facets looked strong against Bartlett, which managed only three shots, all late in the second half. Junior goalies Katelyn Laraia and Jamie Furio shared Downers South’s first shutout of the season, with Furio making two saves in the second half, including one on a breakaway chance by Corissa Berg.

After the Hawks (1-3) controlled the action for the first few minutes, the Mustangs went to work and gradually wore down their younger visitors. Senior midfielder Stephanie Hall scored the first of her two goals with 6:10 to go in the first half when she tapped in a cross from Jenny Adams.

Downers South then scored twice in a 1:37 span in the second half, with Stephanie Zurales blasting a 22-yard shot around a defender and inside the right post with 28:15 remaining and then sending a perfect cross from the left corner to Hall, who buried a six-yard shot to make it 3-0 with 26:38 to go.

It was the first two-goal game for Hall, who was a reserve last season but scored her team’s only goal in a 2-1 state semifinal loss to St. Charles North.

“Steph has really stepped up this season,” Zurales said. “She’s been one of the most vocal girls on the team and she really works her butt off on the outside and I think she’s going to have a lot of great goals this season.”

The same can be said for Zurales, the speedy yet powerful junior striker who led the Mustangs in scoring with 18 goals as a freshman before electing to play club soccer last season. She has four goals and two assists thus far.

“It’s been a great experience,” Zurales said. “I definitely missed it and I really like the coaches. [Assistant] Coach [Mike] McGinnis and Coach Anderson are super motivating and they really care about our team dynamic, so I’m really excited about the season.

So is Anderson.

“We’ve just got kids scoring all over right now, which for us is good to see,” Anderson said.

“To only be outside for a couple weeks and to be really starting with a new group of players, to be rebuilding from what they had last year, we’re excited about where we are and looking forward to the more challenging part of our schedule and hoping to compete with that.”

For Bartlett, every game figures to be a challenge this season because the Hawks have no seniors and only one junior – goalie Amanda Lozada – after most of the returning players opted not to play.

That has left Bartlett coach Heather Thomas with a roster of 11 sophomores and seven freshmen to compete in the most talent-rich areas of the state.

“[The upperclassmen] quit, but that’s okay,” Thomas said. “These girls want to be here, they want to learn. They’re like little sponges; they just soak up everything you have to say. It will be fun to see them grow.”

The Hawks have just five players with previous varsity experience in Lozada, who made six saves against the Mustangs, forwards Josie Dombrowski and Karina Briones and defenders Shannon Brohan and Toria Tomasek.

“Defensively Shannon did well,” Thomas said. “She held her own back there.

“We started off very offensive. I think we caught them by surprise a little but then we had some breakdowns. We’ve just got some inexperience. We’ve have a lot of growing to do and learning. It’s going to take some time.”