Harvest Christian outduels Westminster

The first time Harvest Christian scored, Westminster Christian had an immediate answer. But when the Lions scored again in the second half, the Warriors couldn't respond.

Harvest made goals by Austin White and Alessandro D'Argento stand up for a 2-1 Northeastern Athletic Conference boys soccer victory in Elgin Thursday afternoon.

The Lions (4-1-1, 2-1) beat their neighbors to the south for the first time in program history.

After an early feeling-out period, Harvest jumped on top with Austin's goal in the 19th minute.

"I saw a gap and got the perfect ball," he said. "I just ran through it and put it in."

The dust had barely settled following Austin's goal when the Warriors got it right back. Still in the 19th minute, Joey Tyrrell curled in from the left side and fired it in from a deep angle.

"We had to get our heads back in the game after giving up that goal, and we got it back real quick," said Tyrrell.

After an early flurry by Westminster, Harvest dominated the second half. Cesar Velazquez had a couple of good chances early but was thwarted by Westminster keeper Sam Carani.

Then, late in the half, D'Argento came in from the right side. Carani came way out, but was screened from the ball. D'Argento curled back and feathered a shot between two defenders high into the open net.

"I kept seeing him collapsing on my leg," D'Argento said. "So I took it back a little bit. I knew it was going in. It felt good."

"I'm proud of our guys," said Harvest coach Jason Acres. "They had to keep their composure to score that last goal by Alessandro. He feathered a ball over that last back. You couldn't ask for a better goal."

The loss was a tough one for Westminster (5-7-1 1-2).

"They had chances, we had chances," said Warrior coach Erik Schwartz. "They finished two of theirs, we finished one of ours. That's the story of the game."