Grimmer Anchors Downers South to Another Shutout

Kimmy Grimmer is healthy and that’s grim news for Downers Grove South opponents.

Grimmer, an Augustana-bound defender, broke her leg in a practice midway through last season and sat out the Mustangs’ final 11 contests, including a 3-0 regional final loss to Wheaton Warrenville South.

“It was really hard but I just had to cheer on my teammates and hope for the best of them,” Grimmer said.

The Mustangs are best with Grimmer anchoring their defense. The four-year varsity standout is healthy this spring and Downers South has surrendered just three goals in its first six contests.

The Mustangs (5-0-1) have three shutouts, two of which have come in the past 48 hours as they blanked Hinsdale Central 5-0 on Wednesday and Lincoln-Way Central 5-0 on Thursday to begin the Downers South Invite with a 2-0 record.

"It feels great, just being back with the team and I’m really excited to be able to play this year,” Grimmer said. “We did really well [Thursday], just talking and moving the ball around and making sure everyone’s marked at all times.”

After a slow start, the Mustangs took it to Lincoln-Way Central (1-2-3), outshooting the Knights 27-1. Goalie Amanda Meyers did not have to make a save as Grimmer, Jess Pikul, Lori Niehaus and Cara Doogan stonewalled every advance.

“Kimmy’s doing great,” Doogan said. “Her and Pikul are really anchoring our defense. They’ve save so many [goals].”

“She’s tough,” Downers South coach Barry Jacobson said of Grimmer. “When we lost her last year it really put a big dent in us. She’s a solid, four-year top player. She settles things down for us. She’s tough and physical and starts our offense usually.”

Speaking of offense, Doogan moved up to support the midfield and wound up scoring two goals, the first multi-goal performance of her career.

Doogan’s first goal came at the 4:58 mark of the first half when she lofted a 20-yard shot from just beyond the top right corner of the penalty area over the head of Knights goalie Becca Petrone and under the crossbar. Her second, a 25-yard blast, finished the scoring with 29:37 left in the second half and completed a sequence that saw the Mustangs score three times in the space of 10 minutes.

“I think most of our girls have really nice shots and most of them can finish it and I think the style we’ve been playing is [helping that],” said Doogan, who left the game after tweaking her ankle shortly after her second goal. “I think it’s really important to use the outsides because, obviously you can’t do everything down the middle. So using our outsides is really essential because it’s gotten us a few nice goals.”

Freshman Stephanie Zurales, junior Jessica Bronke and senior Megan Martin also scored for the Mustangs. Zurales and Bronke now have four goals on the season, tying Illinois State signee Keri Kujawa for the team lead.

Downers South will face Neuqua Valley (4-0) for the championship of the round-robin tournament at 6 p.m. Saturday at Hinsdale Central. Neuqua has not given up a goal and crushed Hinsdale Central 6-0 on Thursday.

“We can’t start slow on Saturday,” Jacobson said. “[Neuqua] is a very, very good team. They have speed, they attack well. It will be a good gauge for us early in the year.”