Harper sophomore forward Stephanie Hurwitz (Rolling Meadows, Ill./Fremd) had a career day on Tuesday afternoon, scoring five goals to lead the Hawks to a 6-1 victory over Triton in the Region IV Semifinals. With the win, the Hawks clinched a spot in the Region IV Championship for the sixth consecutive season.
It only took just over three minutes for Hurwitz to race by the Triton defense and beat Daisy Carrera for the first goal of the game to put Harper up 1-0. In the 20th minute, Vanessa Salazar (/Proviso West) found Hurwitz, who broke away from the Trojan defense again and put another ball in the back of the net.
"With my speed, I just try to take people on and go by them," she said.
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The Trojans scored their lone goal of the game two minutes later to make it 2-1 on a free kick off the foot of Yadira Martinez, who lofted the ball toward the goal and saw it slip through the hands of Harper goalkeeper Amanda Hagen (/Hoffman Estates).
It took less than a minute for the Hawks to respond, as Jessica Cosentino (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) scored an unassisted goal to give the Hawks a 3-1 cushion they'd take into halftime.
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Coming out of the half, Hurwitz once again used her speed to exploit the Trojan defense, scoring her third goal of the game on a feed from Cosentino less than a minute into the half. In the 58th minute, Cosentino found Hurwitz again for her fourth goal of the game to push the lead to 5-1.
"She (Steph) did really well with timing her runs and setting her runs properly," said Harper head coach Dwayne Cruz. "She's a national-class sprinter, and we just need to give her some room to run."
The Trojans applied pressure and took 11 shots on goal in the second half, but Harper goalkeeper Mikayla Nagle (), who came in to replace Hagen late in the first half, turned them all aside. The Trojans outshot the Hawks 15-10 in the contest.
Hurwitz, who came into the game with three goals in the team's first seven games, scored her fifth and final goal of the afternoon on a feed from forward Mary Cassidy for her eighth goal of the season.
Hagen earned the victory in goal, making two saves. Nagle turned back 13 shots.
Up next for the Hawks is the Region IV Championship at noon on Saturday at top-seeded DuPage, who defeated Milwaukee 13-0 on Tuesday to advance to the title game. The Hawks lost 4-2 to the Chaparrals on Oct. 9. The winner will advance to the district championship on Oct. 26.
