Men's soccer wraps up regular season at 8-5

The Harper College men's soccer team's regular season came to an end Wednesday when the Hawks hosted Joliete Junior College.

"Joliet has always been a team we have had to contend with in our Region (IV)," said Harper coach Jason Diebold.

The Hawks took the bite out of the Wolves in an 8-0 win. Andrew Larson again stood tall in goal with 4 saves and six players scored goals.

Harper finished the regular season 8-5 and 8-4 in the N4C. The Hawks have won five of their last six, including two in a row against Kankakee Community College.

"We are playing the way we are capable of playing," Jason Diebold said.

The Hawks only yielded 3 goals while scoring 14 in the two games against the Cavaliers.

"For us it is a lot more mental," Diebold said of his team's inconsistencies. "It is a different mental game. They (the players) can get distracted."

But he also shares in the team's performance, saying he is still "finding the right combinations of players on the field."

A young squad might be going through some growing pains as well with only five sophomores on the 2009 roster.

After the regular-season finale Wednesday, the Hawks will have to wait and see who their opponent will be in the regional playoffs. They Hawks are currently third in the Region IV standings.

Good news, bad news: After a brief absence the Harper women's cross country team is back in the NJCAA Division III national poll this week. The 10th-ranked Hawks regular season ends Saturday when they travel to Sauk Valley Community College.

The bad news for the Hawks is top runner Irene Villadares (Buffalo Grove) will not particapate in the postseason because of a leg injury. Because Villadares ran in the Harper Invitational, coach Paul Paynter will not be able to redshirt his top runner.

The No. 6-ranked Harper men's team also will take to the road at Sauk Valley. Paynter does not expect any fast times this weekend because the Hawks will be running on a course that will be made of a plowed cornfield.

Football struggles: The struggles continue for the Harper football team Sunday afternoon after dropping a 42-7 decision to Iowa Central and falling to 2-4.

"We played a really good first half of football. In the second half we just did not play as well." said Harper coach Eric Waldstein. "The big disappointment (Sunday) was it was the same way the week before at Iowa Western. Offensively we are moving the football."

The Hawks had more than 300 yards of total offense Sunday.

"When you look at the stats we should be winning the football game. We are not playing well in the red zone," Waldstein added of capitalizing only once in five trips against Iowa Central.

The Hawks will host Joliet at 1 p.m. Saturday. This game has "always been a pretty big rival game for our school." Waldstein said. "This game has a lot riding on it in terms of seeding for the playoffs in three weeks.

"We talked to the guys (Monday) and we said this is a must-win," Waldstein said of the importance of this weekend's game. "This will set us up for a better seed in the playoffs and not have to go back to (No. 8-ranked) Grand Rapids two weeks in a row."

Four of the five teams in the region will advance to the playoffs except for Rock Valley, which is last in the conference standings and eliminated from the postseason.

Joliet has three running backs that all will get their touches during the game.

The Wolves are coming off a 51-7 home loss to Grand Rapids last Saturday.

Harper quarterback Cameron Kinley has not been medically cleared to play since straining a biceps two weeks ago in a loss to No. 13 Ellsworth. Pat Czerwiec is expected to get the start.

Linebacker Irece Lee is out for the season with a broken collarbone suffered Saturday.

Rough stretch: It has been a tough two weeks for Bob Vilsoet's volleyball team. The Hawks currently sit at 17-16 and in third place in the N4C.

First the Hawks had to travel to top-ranked Rock Valley on Sept. 30.

This was the first time the two teams have played since a season opening 3-set sweep by Rock Valley. This time the Hawks suffered a 19-25, 25-22, 13-25, 15-25 defeat.

"We are a better team then we were the first time we played Rock Valley." Vilsoet said.

A week later, No. 4-ranked Madison Area Technical College came to Palatine and took a 21-25, 25-23, 18-25, 17-25 victory.

"I made the schedule as tough as I could," said Vilsoet. "In the (regional) tournament we are going to play the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams (in the country, Rock Valley and Madison Area Tedchnical College)."

Over the weekend Harper took second in its invitational. On Tuesday rival College of DuPage came to town in the Border Battle with the Hawks winning 23-25, 16-25, 25-27.

This weekend the Hawks will travel to the Wisconsin Dells for a tournament.