Harvard wins back-to-back boys soccer regional championships for first time since 2011-12

HARVARD – Harvard’s run to a Class 2A regional championship last season felt like a long time coming. The Hornets won their first regional title since 2018 after years of coming close with strong seasons.

Because many on this season’s team knew how hard it was to get back to a regional championship, they didn’t want to waste an opportunity to win another Saturday against Cary-Grove in the Class 2A Harvard Regional championship.

[ Photos: Cary-Grove vs. Harvard in a Class 2A Regional Soccer Championship ]

The Hornets didn’t waste their chance. Harvard overcame an early deficit to win 2-1, winning back-to-back regional titles for the first time since 2011-12.

“It means everything,” Harvard senior Diego Ramirez said. “We always try to win a regional and now we’ve won back-to-back. It feels good.”

Although No. 8 Harvard was a little more comfortable seeing No. 16 C-G after the Trojans upset No. 1 Grayslake Central in their playoff opener, another upset seemed like it could be on the table. Junior Ethan Doyle gave C-G an early 1-0 lead when he knocked in a rebound with 36:29 left in the first half.

Harvard (18-4-2) relied on its past experiences of trailing early in matches to regroup and find ways to get back into the Saturday’s game. The Hornets kept moving the ball up the pitch with their high tempo and tied the match when junior Jesus Aquino snuck in the ball in the bottom-left corner of the goal with 24:30 left in the first half.

They kept peppering Trojans senior goalkeeper Ryan Dixon with more shots until Ramirez broke the tie. He rushed toward a pass near the top of the box and fired it past Dixon with 1:55 left in the first half.

“I was just trying to shoot it on target with power,” Ramirez said. “That’s what I did and it went in the back of the net.”

Despite holding a lead, Harvard kept the pressure up in the second half trying to score a third goal. The Hornets maintained possession for much of the second half and didn’t let C-G build too many scoring chances.

Harvard had four of its 11 shots on goal in the second half and limited the Trojans to one shot on goal in the second half.

“They’re pressure, they’re constantly cycling through, it’s a nightmare defensively,” Trojans coach Mark Olson said. “Give credit to them for their technical ability, their speed that they play at and their movement off the ball.”

C-G (3-11-2) hoped some of the momentum it built toward the end of the season would help Saturday. The Trojans went 1-0-2 to finish the regular season against Crystal Lake South, Dundee-Crown and North Chicago before they eventually upset top-seed Grayslake Central in the first round.

“It means everything. We always try to win a regional and now we’ve won back-to-back. It feels good.”

—  Diego Ramirez, Harvard senior

Olson was proud of what his group accomplished both Saturday and toward the end of the season.

“They can just constantly come at you,” Olson said of Harvard. “I thought our team competed hard all the way through, a couple bounces here or there. You have to give credit to the way our kids came back as a 16 seed. It’s a lot to be proud of.”

After repeating as regional champions, the Hornets will try to take their next step by competing for their first sectional title since 2014. Harvard lost in the sectional championship last season to eventual Class 2A state champion South.

The Hornets will play either Wauconda or Grayslake North on Tuesday in a Class 2A Grayslake Central Sectional semifinal and they’ll try to build off of last season’s experiences to get over another hump.

“Experience is huge,” Harvard coach Victor Gonzalez said. “You can’t coach those situations, those experiences, those moments. Us being in it, the guys that are returning being in those situations, they can kind of know what to expect and they know to tell the younger ones who haven’t been a part of it what to expect.”