Women's soccer: Harper gets going, tops Elgin

In Tuesday's NJCAA Division III, Region IV tournament quarterfinal, it took the Harper College women's soccer team a while to find its rhythm.

Once they started, though, the goals kept coming in a steady manner.

The host Hawks advanced to Saturday's semifinal against Rock Valley College by topping Elgin Community College 5-1.

Harper coach Dwayne Cruz blamed the slow start on a bad warmup, and freshman Ayulieth Garcia also sensed the sluggish nature on the field.

"We were not ready to play," she said.

Yet it was the Maine West alum who would helped the higher seed take control of the contest by scoring the first goal. And freshman Alexis Orozco (Schaumburg) gave Harper a 2-0 lead before the half.

With the ECC defense starting to tire, Garcia began to get scoring chances. She made good on one from the 18-yard block, giving the Hawks a 3-0 lead. An ECC own goal made it 4-0.

Cruz got a strong performance in goal from Christina Kim, who made 3 first-half saves before being moved forward.

Harper added 1 more score before Elgin's Melissa Galarza came up with the game's final goal.