Mustangs' tie with Lemont a small step forward

By Eddie Burns

To the casual observer, there might not be much of anything to take away from a scoreless tie.

But for Downers Gove South coach Jon Stapleton, his squad’s 0-0 draw against Lemont on Saturday did present a few bright spots.

“For us, it is a positive result because we’ve struggled this year,” said Stapleton, whose team is now 3-7-4. “In that regard, I am proud of the fact that we got a positive result.”

Each team had its share of scoring chances. One of the Mustangs’ best opportunities came seconds before halftime when senior midfielder Charlie Stanke lifted a shot inches above the crossbar.

“We are getting a lot of chances by knocking the balls in, but we’re not finishing them,” Stanke said.

South’s Cal Roselieb found himself involved in several close calls for the Mustangs.

“It seems likes we were able to keep the ball up the field and get more possession and get more of an attack going,” Roselieb said. “But we just couldn’t finish it off. We fought hard, but just couldn’t get it done.”

The Mustangs were not quite all on the same page and it showed with several missed opportunities in and around the Lemont (9-3-1) penalty area. South was playing its third match in five days.

“It didn’t seem like we were as mentally sharp as we could be,” Stapleton said. “A lot of our touches and services we were off. It wasn’t a lack of effort. The kids played hard. It just seemed like we had some tired legs.

There were times where we played a combination into the final third and we’d play it in and we hit it out of bounds. Or we’d make that tap touch to beat someone and next touch would be just too far and or maybe go out of bounds.”

Meanwhile, the Mustangs’ defense was sharp. Goalie Andrew Reed posted the squad’s second shutout in three matches. Reed had five saves and was aggressive in net. He did a nice job directing the Mustangs’ defense.

Junior defender Conor Kelch also played well and made several aggressive defensive plays.
As the team heads into final third of its schedule, Roselieb and Stanke would like to see the offense finish its chances because the process of actually scoring goals has not come easy for the Mustangs this season.

“Offensively we’re looking to find ways to play the ball quicker and finding combinations that present successful situations for us,” Stapleton said. “In the final third, we’re looking to slot balls to the feet and looking to be dangerous as opposed to playing a 50-50 ball all of the time in the box.”

Stanke agreed with Stapleton’s assessment.

“We simply need to create more dangerous chances,” he said. “We need chemistry and some creativity to make those things happen. All it takes is one play and it can change it all.”

The Mustangs will host rival Downers Grove North on Thursday.

2009 Schedule
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