Harper women tie COD

With the top seed in the region tournament and the North Central Community College Conference women's soccer championship on the line Friday afternoon at Harper College, the Hawks welcomed rival College of DuPage to Palatine.

The Hawks needed to beat the Chaparrals by 5 goals or more to secure the top seed in the regional.

That may have been too much to ask, but Harper did net an N4C co-championship with a 3-0 victory over the Chaparrals.

The Hawks' high-octane offense wasted no time scoring, as Jaclyn LaRocco assisted on midfielder Keli Consentine's goal 11 minutes into the game.

“It was big, the bench got excited, Consentine said.

The Hawks added their second goal when Melissa Hernandez's free kick about 35 yard from goal beat the COD keeper in the upper-left corner of the net.

LaRocco, the NJCAA's leader in points, made it 3-0 with 14:57 left in the first half.

“Rocco had an amazing game today, said Harper coach Dwayne Cruz.

Freshman forward Heather Pawlish kept the pressure on for Harper with numerous scoring chances in the second half.

“We didn't have the intensity that we should have in the second half, said Cruz, who praised the defensive efforts of sophomore Jessica Gadas.

The win secures a tie atop the N4C table between Harper and College of DuPage. Both teams have have 7-1 conference records.

“It's a huge victory, Hernandez said. “We wanted to win.