Harford rallies to oust GC men's soccer, 3-2

BEL AIR — Third-seeded Harford Community College scored twice in the last 17 minutes Saturday afternoon to rally past sixth-seeded Garrett College, 3-2, in the NJCAA Division II Region 20 soccer quarterfinals.Pedro Azambuja scored off a rebound for the Fighting Owls with 16:13 remaining to create a 2-2 tie, and Andile Muhlauri notched the game-winner on a penalty kick with just 2:46 left in regulation to send Harford into the semifinal round.The Fighting Owls (12-5-2) overcame Laker Darius Hamilton’s 11th and 12th goals of the season and goaltender and Northern Garrett graduate Wyatt Hull’s 16-save effort for Garrett.“The boys played really hard. It was a great performance overall,” said Garrett College interim head coach Logan Turner, who helped the Lakers improve from 5-12 last year to 7-8-2 in the program’s second season.Hamilton’s first goal at 30:31 gave Garrett College a 1-0 lead, but Mani Awah answered just 59 seconds later on a penalty kick to tie the game. Hamilton’s second goal — only 1:17 before halftime — gave GC a 2-1 lead.The Fighting Owls dominated the second half with a 29-0 shots advantage and a 6-1 edge in corner kicks, but Garrett clung to its one-goal advantage for more than 20 minutes before Azambuja’s tying goal.Muhlauri’s goal set up Harford’s region semifinal against second-seeded Howard Community College (14-1-2), which posted a 3-0 victory over seventh-seeded Cecil College (7-10-2) in their quarterfinal clash.Harford finished the match with a 47-4 edge in total shots and a 19-3 advantage in shots on goal.“They had the ball most of the second half and were applying constant pressure on the back line,” Turner said of the Fighting Owls. “We just had a couple of moments where we had a counter attack and scored.”Turner praised Hull’s work during a busy day in the net.“He had a fantastic game,” Turner said of Hull, noting two of the Harford goals came on penalty kicks and the third on a rebound after Hull made an outstanding initial save.In addition to improving by two victories, the Lakers finished with a winning region record (7-6-2) for the first time.Garrett College was also a much more efficient offensive team, scoring nearly twice as many goals (45 compared to 24) in Year 2 versus Year 1.Turner reflected on a season in which he was named head coach just days before the opener due to an unexpected coaching vacancy.“I thought for the most part the season went pretty awesome. For the guys to come around and play as well as they did, I’m proud of them,” said Turner.“Overall, I thought it was a great experience. The team worked well with me. I think we came together and built something special.”