Harvest Christian notches first regional win
While the heavy rain on Tuesday may have played havoc with the field conditions at Westminster Christian, that didn't stop Harvest Christian from opening the floodgates with a deluge of goals against Elgin Academy.
The Lions (11-3-3) broke a 2-2 halftime tie by exploding for 6 goals in the second half to pull away from the Hilltoppers for 8-3 win in Class 1A regional semifinal action. It's the first playoff win ever in boys soccer for Harvest Christian. The top-seeded Lions will now try to win their first regional title on Friday when they face the winner of Wednesday's game between St. Edward and the host Warriors.
Sophomore forward Raphael DeSouza had a hat trick for the Lions. Freshman Alessandro D'Argento added a pair of goals.
"We are a grind-it-out kind of team, nothing flashy," Harvest coach Jason Acres said. "And this was a grind-it-out kind of game. We were telling the guys at halftime that it's going to come down to what team can stay focused the longest. We knew if we could just settle down and keep our composure in front of the net that we could score some goals. I am just really pleased with the way we stepped up our concentration in the second half."
The Lions had a 32-15 shot advantage in the game. Just over 7 minutes into the second half Austin White blasted a rocket from the middle of the field past several defenders and into the net from over 30 yards to give the Lions the lead for good 3-2.
"We just wanted it more," White said. "We put a lot more pressure on in the second half and got a lot more aggressive trying to score."
With 24:33 left to play D' Argento made it 4-2 when he gathered in a lose ball on broken up play in front of the net and scored from 20 yards out. Less than a minute later D' Argento added another unassisted goal to make it 5-2.
DeSouza added a pair of late goals. He also had one in the first half that tied the score at 1-1 at the time.
"We came out with a lot more energy in the second," DeSouza said. "I think the first half was a wake up call. It feels great to be a part of winning the first playoff game. I hope we can keep going."
Sergio Velazquez had a goal for Harvest in the first half. Joe Hackl scored the Lions' final goal on a penalty kick.
Elgin Academy (6-10) struck first on a goal from Julian Romano just over 6 minutes into the game. After Harvest pulled ahead 2-1, Patrick Westerhoff tied the score at 2-2 just before the half.
However, the Hilltoppers were outshot 19-7 in the second half. Drew Wilmington had Elgin Academy's only goal in the second half.
"That has kind of been our pattern much of the year," Elgin Academy coach Kevin Talbot said. "We get the lead and then we just can't hold it. Our inexperience catches up with us and we seem to have a stretch of about 10 to 15 minutes every game of bad soccer. It's encouraging to see that we can play even with a team like Harvest for a half. Hopefully. next year we can take the next step and compete for the full game."