Boys soccer: Harvard wins in double-overtime to advance to sectional final

GRAYSLAKE — Diego Ramirez was brought to tears Tuesday when he thought he cost Harvard an opportunity to play for a sectional title.

Ramirez believed he could’ve cleared a ball that Prairie Ridge scored on with 15 seconds left in regulation of their Class 2A Grayslake North Sectional semifinal and wanted to redeem himself.

He made sure those tears of sadness turned into tears of joy.

Ramirez scored in the second overtime period to lead Harvard to a 3-2 win and a chance to win a sectional title for the first time since 2014.

“I had to make up for it for the team,” Ramirez said.

Harvard (17-7) had to overcome a roller coaster of a match that featured three lead changes. Both teams scored in the first overtime period before Ramirez earned his chance of redemption.

The Hornets pushed the ball up, and Ramirez got a touch pass and didn’t think. He just shot the ball and scored with 7:38 left in the second overtime period to send his team to the next round.

“He was on a mission when he went back out there,” Harvard coach Victor Gonzalez said. “He was down on himself at the end, but I saw that determination. Once he got the pass, he was going to his shot.”

Harvard broke through first in the match when Martin Quintero scored with 19:05 left. PR kept applying pressure until Logan Braun headed in a goal with 15.7 seconds left in regulation.

The Wolves kept the momentum and scored when Gabe Porter nailed in a shot off a touch pass with 6:56 left in the first overtime period. But the momentum swung again when the Wolves committed a foul in the box, and David Pichardo knocked in a penalty kick with 2:30 left in the first OT.

“I had to make up for it for the team.”

—  Diego Ramirez, Harvard junior

Gonzalez thought his team did a good job of managing the swings of the match because of the way the Hornets practiced different scenarios.

“We’ve been in this position in practice. Can we do it in the game now?” Gonzalez said.

Prairie Ridge (14-3-2) tried to ride the wave of momentum into overtime after scoring with 17.5 seconds left in regulation. The Wolves got a goal in the first overtime period and had a few other chances, but only picked up the one goal.

PR had a successful season filled with big accomplishments, like winning its first regional title since 1999. Wolves coach Joe Schroeder wished his team could’ve pulled out another after what the seniors helped built over the past few years.

“It’s a heartbreaker, especially for the seniors to go out like that,” Schroeder said.

The Hornets won their first regional since 2018 by beating top seed Grayslake Central. They’ll try to keep their playoff run going when they play Crystal Lake South on Friday for the sectional title.

“We have to find ways to win games,” Gonzalez said. “We won an ugly game today. I don’t think we played our best game, but at the end of the day what matters is we won the game.”