Healthier Harpers hangs on against COD

Besieged by injuries this season, the Harper College women’s soccer team had struggled to a 4-9 record this season.

But with the NJCAA Region IV tournament just around the corner, Hawks coach Dwayne Cruz is seeing things take a turn for the better as he’s now in charge of a nearly completely heathy roster.

“We haven’t had everybody (on the field),” Cruz said.

The only player not at his disposal Wednesday against visiting College of DuPage was freshman forward Marisa Andreuccetti (Conant), who is suffering from a back injury and may miss the remander of the season.

The healthier Hawks got a pair of first-half goal against the Chaparrals from Weslie Iza (Fremd) in a 2-1 Harper victory.

“We (attacked) their back line,” Iza said.

“There are things we need to resolve at the back,” said College of DuPage coach William Fajkus. “We made some mistakes and (Iza) made us pay for it.”

The second half went in favor of the Chaparrals.

“I think we got a little bit more desperate as the game went on and worked a little bit harder,” Fajkus said.

After dominating the run of play in the first 20 minutes, the Chaps were finally rewarded with a strong run down the right flank that led to a penalty in the box. Freshman defender Evette Abarca (Downers Grove South) calmly put the visitors on the board, beating Harper goalie Monica Hinderer (5 saves).

“We got tired,” Cruz said of his team’s second-half play. “We are playing better.

“We have two weeks (before regionals) to work on stuff we have to tweak.”