Box Score Daily Herald Article
Final Region IV Bracket
PALATINE, Ill. – The top-seeded Harper College men's soccer team won the Region IV Championship on Saturday afternoon, defeating No. 3 seed Joliet Junior College 2-0.
The win sends the Hawks (11-3-3) to the three-team District Championship on Friday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31. Harper will play Richland College (11-3-1) of Dallas, Texas, the No. 3 team in the nation at the NJCAA Div. III level, at 6 PM on Friday on the campus of the University of Northwestern – St. Paul in St. Paul, Minnesota. The winner will play ninth-ranked Anoka-Ramsey Community College (14-3-0) in the District Championship on Saturday at 6 PM.
The Hawks got some outstanding play in goal from Jacob Goldstein (Buffalo Grove, Ill. /Stevenson ) (10-2-3), who made 10 saves on the afternoon and recorded his seventh shutout of the season. Goldstein was tested throughout the game but made some of his most impressive saves in the first half, including one just before halftime.
"It was incredible to come up for my team like that. It's huge. It's not over yet, though," Goldstein said. "We've got a lot of work ahead of us right now."
Harper put very limited pressure on Joliet (10-8) in the first half as the score was 0-0 at intermission. The Wolves' best chance may have come in the 30th minute as Jesus Gutierrez fired a shot off the top crossbar that nearly went in the net.
The Hawks finally got it going in the second half and broke through in the 62nd minute. Off a corner kick from Raul Alcala (/Schaumburg), Harper defender Manny Menjivar (/Huntley) fired a shot at Wolves' keeper Cesar Marquez. Marquez made the stop but allowed for a Menjivar rebound, which he deposited in the back of the goal to put Harper ahead 1-0.
Menjivar described the feeling of scoring the first goal as "Just relief, really. Being able to score the first goal is amazing, too."
The score would remain the same for much of the second half. Joliet increased their pressure by pulling their defenders further up the field, but Harper exposed this in the closing minutes. In the 86th minute, Jaime Quintana (Lake in the Hills, Ill./Huntley) found Niko Mihalopoulos (Lake in the Hills, Ill./Huntley) perfectly in stride. Mihalopoulos, who had a defender draped on his side, delivered with a goal past Marquez to give the Hawks the insurance goal they needed.
"The second half I think we picked it up (on defense). I think we all good work together. I don't think anybody can get past us, really," Menjivar said.
Notes: The Hawks have now scored 41 goals in 17 games (2.4/game) … Harper has only given up 17 goals in 17 games (1.0/game) … Mihalopoulos' goal was his team-leading 11th of 2015 … Menjivar leads Hawks defenders with three goals.
