Mustangs' scoring spurt lifts them past Brother Rice

By Darryl Mellema

In England there is a famous phrase that soccer's a “funny old game.”

A great example of the on-pitch meaning of that phrase took place on Saturday at Downers Grove South.

The Mustangs dominated in just about every area of the match for an hour – yet trailed Brother Rice 1-0. Then for just over 20 minutes, nearly everything host Downers Grove South tried came to a positive outcome and the Mustangs ran out very comfortable 4-1 winners.

The match concluded play in the Hinsdale Central Red Devil Cup for Downers Grove South. Due to a win on Saturday over Hersey and its three additional pool play bonus points, Morton advanced while the Mustangs involvement in the tournament came to an end.

But that took nothing away from Saturday's performance which got better as the match progressed and was scintillating at times when it reached its highest points.

“I don't think we played particularly well in the first half,” Downers Grove South coach Jon Stapleton said. “We had a very difficult time putting together passes and finding any rhythm in the attack. The second half, we got more into making those angled runs that are difficult to defend.”

Zach Baleski and Kyle Wolf each scored twice in the final 20 minutes of play to turn what looked like becoming a frustrating morning into an emphatic victory for Downers Grove South (3-0-2.)

Possession time, time in the opposition's penalty area and chances created – Downers Grove South had the edge in all those areas. But it took just over an hour for the Mustangs to score. And in that time, Brother Rice (2-4) took the lead.

After controlling most of the first half, Downers Grove South fell prey to a quick counter attack. Brother Rice's Ryan Nellon played the ball forward to Giovanni Valdez, whose back header beat all of the Mustangs defenders and goalkeeper Sam Hadley. Despite their dominance, with 13:45 to go in the half, the Mustangs trailed 1-0.

With the lead, Brother Rice defended more resolutely and played more for a through-ball breakaway attempt. That approach nearly brought a second goal with 11 minutes left in the half. Valdez was played in one-on-one with Hadley, who made the save.

But the Mustangs were getting their chances as well – including a Sam Lalonde shot with 6 minutes left in the half that was cleared off the line by Ryan Nellon.

Early in the second half, Downers Grove South began to work the ball around its midfield more fluidly and began to create more chances to score. Conor Kelch forced a save from Kevin Myren after 10 minutes and Joe McLean turned in the penalty area and shot just wide from a Nick Suker pass 2 minutes later. But the match remained 1-0 in Brother Rice's favor, and despite a sense that the Mustangs might eventually score, the fact was that the Crusaders continued to hold firm.

“We weren't that worried,” Wolf said. “We had dominated most of the play. We just had a little issued concentration and a breakdown on their goal. We knew we would get some in the second half. We just had to get one, and we felt the others would come too.”

The tying goal came about as much through good fortune as it did to strong play by Baleski, who took the ball after some confusion between Brother Rice's goalkeeper and defense.

“Coach (Stapleton) told us at halftime to keep our heads in the game,” Baleski said. “I just wanted to make him proud. I just tried as hard as I could and I beat the defender and beat the goalie. I was just traveling in there behind their last defender like Coach (Nate) Terry told me to do. It makes the defender confused. I just slipped in on the other side and poked the ball out and dribbled it in from there.”

“Zach gives you that ability with his speed,” Stapleton said. “That was a big goal. I think that, without that, it would have been a big struggle for us for the last 20 minutes.”

Moments later, Cory Mosiman hit the side netting from close range. The pressure continued, however, and Wolf shot from 15 yards with 15 minutes to play to put the Mustangs ahead to stay.

From that point, nearly everything Downers Grove South put toward goal seemed to find a way into the net. Baleski beat the Brother Rice goalie to reach a long pass by David Masolak and then score with 10 minutes to play. Baleski I hit his shot from the left side of the penalty area to give the Mustangs a 3-1 lead.

Wolf got his second goal with 9:22 to play. Tony Uhlen shot just inches wide with 7 minutes to play as the match assumed a one-way path toward the Crusaders' goal.

“Once we got that one goal, everything started to turn our way and everything seemed to be going into the goal,” Wolf said.

As the Mustangs' play improved, Suker's play became more influential. The midfielder knitted the team together throughout the second half and helped keep attacking moves flowing.

“He was really frustrated with his touch in the first half,” Stapleton said. “We weren't finding him as much and that may not be so much his teammates' fault. I think he did a great job of making himself more available in the second half and that was good.”

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