Newcomer Zurales Helping Mustangs Reach Goals

Just a freshman, Downers Grove South forward Stephanie Zurales has yet to experience a soccer conference championship.

But being familiar enough with the program and its history, the Mustangs newcomer knows what is expected of the team every spring—plenty of wins, a finish at the top of the West Suburban Gold standings and a deep run into the post-season.

Zurales has helped the team pile up the wins this season and on Tuesday she notched two goals in a 4-0 defeat of Hinsdale South, a key triumph that has Downers South one big step closer to another league crown.

Zurales scored just 95 seconds into the match off an assist from Jessica Bronke, then struck again early in the second half to find herself sharing the team lead with 13 goals for the 15-2-1 Mustangs who improved to 4-0 in the WSG.

“The theme this year is pride, thanks to the seniors, to go out strong and win another conference championship,” said Zurales, who did not appear slowed at all by the cold, wet conditions played on the final game at DGS before the grass field is converted to turf. “Hopefully we can go out like that.”

With Hinsdale South coming to town with a 7-6 overall mark and a 3-0 league record, Tuesday’s game was a big one.

The Mustangs followed Zurales' goal with goals from Keri Kujawa and Megan Martin for a commanding 3-0 lead with 27:47 still left to play in the first half.

“We gave up one in the first two minutes, and you can’t do that,” Hornets coach Pat Wolf said. “I guess you can because it happened, but it’s like you give them a distinct advantage.”

The talented Mustangs seemed to take advantage of pretty much every opportunity they got on offense and controlled the play so much that Amanda Meyers needed to make just one save to record the shutout.

Hornets Goalie Vanessa Niestrom made three saves on the night, but some nice passing and shooting by the hosts beat her three times early on. When Bronke’s cross made its way through traffic in front of the net less than 10 minutes after the game’s first goal, Kujawa knocked it home for a 2-0 lead.

Less than two minutes later, Martin then buried a free kick and it was 3-0 Mustangs. After the initial outburst hit them hard, the Hornets collected themselves some and limited the Mustangs’ chances.

Even so, Zurales struck again early in the second half when she chased down a pretty cross from Kujawa and knocked home her second goal of the match to close out the night’s scoring.

She said she didn't expect to share the team lead 13 goals at this point. “It’s just great balls I’ve gotten from my teammates," she said. 

With 17:07 left in the match, the Hornets Jamie Walker spun around and fired a hard shot on net for her team’s lone threat, but Meyers was up to the task to preserve the shutout.