Triton trips up Harper

It was not your typical Harper-Triton men's soccer match on Wednesday in south Palatine, where the host Hawks dropped a 2-0 decision.

"Triton (4-2) was a little more dangerous than us early," said first-year Harper coach Dan Klaus.

Of the Trojans' 6 first-half shots, the visitors were able to go one-on-one with Hawks goalie Irvin Velazquez (Hersey) four times. None of the shots resulted in a goal on the freshman shot blocker.

Velazquez finished with 9 saves, and he was not the only one doing the defending.

Klaus was quick to point out the strong play of freshmen defenders Alex Freeman (St. Viator) and Allan Santiaguillo (Buffalo Grove).

"We played real nice in our third," Klaus said of his defense.

The Hawks' offense showed flickers of hope as it came up with four quality chances.

But Trojans 6-foot-2 goalie Borys Kapino was able to keep the Harper offense at bay.

Klaus wants the Hawks to keep an attacking mentality.

"You (have to) just keep pounding away." he said.

The Trojans took control of the game physically toward the end of the first half.

Harper freshman Alex Ramirez collected the first of three Harper yellow cards in the 43rd minute.

"Sometimes we struggle with the physical aspect of the game," Klaus said.

Despite the struggles, the teams went into halftime tied 0-0.

Triton forward Milos Sretkovic scored the game's first goal in the 61st minute. Midfielder Raymundo Manjarrez later put the game away with his lone goal to give the Trojans their 2-goal cushion.

The Hawks (2-3) know they have to find a scoring source to get back on the winning path after three consecutive losses.

"On the attack, we're struggling to find the individual game-breaker," Klaus said.

The Hawks look to bounce back against host Rock Valley College (5-2, 1-2) at 4 p.m. Friday, when the two programs meet for the first time in history.