Harper women’s soccer squad battles injuries
After dropping the season opener to College of DuPage last week, the Harper College women’s soccer team was able to bounce back with a 2-1 victory over South Suburban two days later.
Injuries have been a challenge for the Hawks.
“We are not heathy right now. We expected to be 4-1 after today,” said coach Dwayne Cruz of his team’s slow start.
The Hawks (3-2 overall, 2-2 N4C) were down to 10 players early in the first half against South Suburban when foward Kelli Cosentino (Bartlett) picked up a red card and was ejected from the game.
“It was deserving of a warning,” Cruz said of the red card.
Bree Nishibun (Fremd) scored on a corner kick. Forward Chloe Takala (Fremd) was credited with an assist and Forward Abby Groh (Barrington) scored for the Hawks. Nishibun notched her second point of the game when she was credited with an assist on Groh’s goal.
With Cosentino absent, the Hawks started Wednesday’s game against Joliet Junior College with only 10 players. To make matters worse, sophomore defender Samatha Rill (Schaumburg) left the game; she’s trying to recover from a bruised knee, and backline mate Nicole Gaborek (Hersey) has a pulled quad muschle.
The Hawks fell 3-2 to Joliet. With the game tied at 2-2, the Wolves got the game-winner with under two minutes to play in the game.
“Elizabeth (Tapia, of Schaumburg) played well today,” Cruz said.
The Hawks now get a break in the schedule and next play Friday, Sept. 23 at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
Cruz likes the play of Leah Tedness (Hoffman Estates) and still believes in the potential of his team.
“Our full squad can beat anybody in the region,” he said.
Men’s cross country: Three meets into the season, the third-ranked Harper men’s cross country team is starting to round into shape.
“So far it’s been going real well,” said coach Jim Macnider.
Pablo Ramirez (Conant) placed fifth out of 17 runners at Elmhurst College on Sept. 2. A week later, he finished second at Aurora College in a time that was just one second off the course record.
“Ramirez has a legit shot at winning the (national) championship,” Macnider said.
The Aurora meet marks the first time the Hawks ran the 8k distance this season.
The next three weeks could go a long way in the team’s development. The Hawks will take part in the Illnois Intercollegiate meet hosted by Illinois State this week. Then the Hawks go to Minnesota and run in the Griak Invite.
“We are running at two really good cross country courses,” Macnider said. “I’m just looking at the kids to keep improving.”
Women’s volleyball: After winning the College of Lake County Invite on Saturday, the Harper women’s volleyball team kicked off a week that features three contests.
The Hawks (12-4 overall, 3-1 N4C) started the week with a 3-set sweep of College of DuPage on Tuesday.
Still upcoming are road games at McHenry today, and at Illinois Valley Community College on Saturday.
The Hawks defeated the Eagles earlier this season in the DuPage Classic.
Harper coach Bob Vilsoet is praising the efforts of sophomore outside hitter Lauren LaMasse (Hoffman Estates), who leads the team in kills with 119.
Vilsoet also likes the defensive play of freshmen Megan Kollmeyer and Andraia Leja (Prairie Ridge).
There is currectly a four-way tie atop the N4C standings between Madison Area Technical College, Rock Valley, Joliet and Harper. All four teams have 3-1 conference records.
“This makes for great competition in our conference,” Vilsoet said.