Hornets ‘so good’

Harvard's Ivan Pichardo (center) celebrates a second-half goal with teammate Alberto Martinez as Harvard beat Chicagoland Jewish, 6-0, in their IHSA Class 1A Westminster Christian Regional quarterfinal boys soccer game Tuesday in Harvard. (John Konstantaras - For the Northwest Herald) (John Konstantaras ())

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HARVARD – Early in the first half Tuesday, a Chicagoland Jewish soccer player looked over at Tigers coach Marc Botbol on the sideline and shrugged his shoulders.

“They’re so good,” the defender said of Harvard’s soccer team.

The Hornets only played stronger in the second half of their IHSA Class 1A Westminster Christian Regional quarterfinal match against the Tigers and rolled to a 6-0 victory to earn a spot in the regional semifinal at 11 a.m. Saturday against either Genoa-Kingston or Niles Northridge Prep. That quarterfinal was suspended because of darkness Tuesday, tied at 1 after two overtime periods. It will resume at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Genoa.

Top-seeded Harvard limited the eighth-seeded Tigers (4-7-2) to one shot in the match and took 21 shots during the first half.

Harvard senior forward Colin Carpenter scored the Hornets’ first goal five minutes into the match off a pass from Pat Wilkening, but communication problems and a few missed opportunities kept Harvard (16-3-2) from scoring again until the final seven minutes of the half.

“I didn’t think we played particularly well in the first half,” Harvard coach David Abel said. “In the second half we played very well because we started getting back to playing the kind of soccer that we want to be playing.”

Sophomore forward Alberto Martinez notched the Hornets’ second and third goals within a minute of one another before the break. His first goal came from the far right corner of the box off a pass from Wilkening, and Martinez buried his second goal from 20 yards in front of the net past Tigers goalkeeper Michael Jacobson, who made 23 saves.

“I thought he was going to stop it, but it just curved a little bit around him,” said Martinez of his second goal. “It was kind of a lucky goal.

“This is probably our best chance to score a lot of goals in the regional, so we were happy to score so much. Hopefully, we can get another win on Saturday.”

Harvard senior forward Ivan Pichardo scored twice in the same minute to open the second half. His first goal came off a pass from Martinez from the right goal post, and the other was scored on a header into the left corner of the net off a pass from Carpenter, giving Harvard a 5-0 cushion with 32:12 remaining in the match.

Senior midfielder Alvaro Sepulveda scored the Hornets’ final goal with 20:33 left.

“Obviously, it’s a positive when you can have success like this to open the [postseason],” Abel said. “It helps build momentum and confidence.”

The loss concluded the Tigers’ program’s first season, but coach Marc Botbol wasn’t disappointed to lose to the Hornets.

“They’re well coached and athletic ... I hope they go all the way,” Botbol said.