The Harvey boys side’s 2023 campaign, advancing to regional competition for the first time in boys soccer in school history, showed these Red Raiders can indeed ride on the most prominent stages. Unfortunately Oct. 16 in a Division III sectional final, as Harvey sought to build upon that postseason momentum this fall, this 2024 edition of the Red Raiders learned a painful lesson. Wooster came in 5-11-1, but clearly underseeded. These Generals can ride, too — and much to Harvey’s lament, proved it on a lengthy excursion north. Michael Buchholz and Nicholas Morse each netted a brace, and Wooster bagged three goals in a 3-minute, 48-second stretch early in the second 40 to wrest control of a 5-1 win in the D-III Northeast 2 District. The Red Raiders conclude this fall 11-4-2. Harvey coach Natalie Sisler lamented her side being unable to locate its trademark quality in the natural flow of attack. “I think we weren’t playing our game and focusing on our game and playing the ball on the ground as much as I’d like us to,” Sisler said. “We needed to connect some quicker passes at times, which we recently did against Riverside in the second half (of a 5-1 win). We just couldn’t do it this game. “I told them, from the beginning, I knew they were going to kind of clog up the center pretty well because they have a couple of good players in the center. But they definitely pressured really hard out wide as well. Our creativity out wide just was not there.” After a 0-0 stalemate in the opening 40, the Red Raiders did get an encouraging start out of the break. Christian Guerra lined up a free kick and slotted a right-footed piledriver under the crossbar in the 43rd minute for a 1-0 advantage. It was the versatile senior’s ninth goal of 2024. Harvey 1-0Christian Guerra 43rd min pic.twitter.com/1mPBhj9MMR — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) October 17, 2024 Restart quality was one thing. But again, natural flow of attack was quite another. Wooster (6-11-1) implemented a smart back line with shape and clogged width well, whether it was service or off-ball runs. The Generals got into the attack, in turn, with efficient, quick touches, flow and understanding that made this an uphill trek for Harvey. Morse opened his side’s account in the 50th with a slick lefty finish, then assisted on Jake Rickett’s strike 55 seconds later to give Wooster the lead to stay. Buchholz followed with a brace, drawing contact for a penalty kick then finishing from the spot in the 54th, along with an edge-of-the-six tapper in the 67th to make it 4-1. As coaches went through the district seeding process, this year not split east and west by division, Sisler had a hunch about what Wooster might bring to the table. Despite just five regular-season wins, the Generals had a schedule that featured perennially strong sides such as Lexington, Westlake, Hudson WRA, Walsh Jesuit, Massillon Jackson and North Canton Hoover. “Yeah, I knew from the beginning they were (underseeded),” Sisler said. “I had put them a lot higher. I think the problem is, when you have 50-some teams that you’re ranking and you don’t have any crossover matches, it makes it really hard, especially for coaches who don’t look into who they’re losing to. And you see that a lot with a lot of teams based on strength of schedule and stuff like that. I definitely think they were.” The result brought a harsh conclusion for a Harvey senior class, anchored by Guerra and fellow program staple Antonio Soto, that logged 59 wins over their careers, highlighted by the aforementioned regional breakthrough a year ago. Sisler, displaying her care and regard for her seniors, took time to compose herself before lauding their contribution to the program. “I feel like they grew a lot from freshman, sophomores, all the way until now,” Sisler said. “I think they had a lot of good leaders in last year’s class to kind of show them the ropes. I was a little concerned in the beginning of the season as far as seniors and stepping up as captains. But I feel like a lot of our seniors have definitely developed throughout the season into strong leaders. “Obviously, we’re a pretty young side other than our seniors. So hopefully, those sophomores and juniors will see what they did throughout their season and what they did off the field, too — practice and things like that and take that away for the next years obviously.”