Mustangs gladly take fourth-place trophy

Downers Grove South's girls soccer program earned its fourth trophy in six trips downstate, all under coach Barry Jacobson, by placing fourth at this year's Class AA state finals Saturday.

"It's a big accomplishment for us, because we haven't been back here since 2002," said Mustangs senior Megan Owens. "I'm just proud that we got this far."

"Nobody expected us to get down here, and we got here," Jacobson added. "And nobody expected us to win yesterday, and we won against a very good team."

The Mustangs kicked off the state tournament at North Central College in Naperville with a 1-0 quarterfinal win over Carmel on Friday on a goal from freshman Keri Kujawa. That win put Downers South (21-8) in a semifinal game Saturday against Belleville Althoff, in a game in which the Mustangs managed 8 shots on net but couldn't finish in a 2-0 loss.

The Mustangs lost 2-0 again in the third-place game Saturday night to Normal West (28-1).

"I think their passing broke us apart," said Mustangs forward Danielle Janowiak. "But other than that, I thought we played a good game."

Janowiak led the Mustangs with 23 goals this year, followed by Owens with 9, Lauren Rusk with 7 and Amy and Katie Baschen with 6 goals apiece.

The Mustangs will lose eight seniors from this year's squad, including Janowiak, Owens, Kelly Kubal, Jillian Wagner, Kristina Magda, Jessica Jamie and Kasey Pontarelli.

"It's a great way to end senior year," said goalkeeper Kubal. "It would have been nice to end on a win, but we made it downstate and that's what everyone plays for."

His 25th season as the Mustangs' coach included another milestone for Jacobson, the winningest coach in Illinois history with 420 wins, who notched No. 400 in a 1-0 win over Oak Park-River Forest to start the season.

"Coach downplayed it a lot. He wouldn't even let us get him gifts," Kubal said. "He's always been about team first."

"We had a lot of freshmen on the team that are really good players," Owens said. "It took a lot of hard work, but from tryouts on I knew we could get down here."