Harvest Christian’s historic journey came to an end Tuesday, but the Lions didn’t get down about it.

Alex Fischer scored 3 goals as Willows Academy downed the Lions 5-0 in the semifinals of the Class 1A Marian Central girls soccer sectional in Woodstock.

It was the Lions’ first sectional appearance in school history and while the final score wasn’t what they wanted to see, the Lions focused on their growth and progress through the season.

“Overall as a team from the beginning of the season we have grown so much,” said Holley Colclasure. “I don’t think we ever thought that we were going to win regionals, but we sure were hopeful. From that point we just played our best and played together.”

Kailey Mongoven scored on a header off a rebound to get the Eagles on the board early. Fischer added 2 more goals as Willows took a 3-0 lead by intermission, which was all part of the plan.

“That was our goal from the get-go, we wanted to get a quick goal on them, try to get a couple more in the first half and just try to seal the deal to get ready to play on Friday,” said Eagles coach Amy McMahon.

Harvest regrouped in the second half, but couldn’t penetrate the Willows defense. A shot by Colclasure and a free kick by Ellie Burzlaff was as much offense as the Lions could muster.

“The first half we didn’t play to our 100 percent like we thought we were going to do,” said Harvest coach Nate Baron. “But honestly, we turned that game around from our team’s perspective. We dominated the game, we possessed the ball, we played really good soccer, so that is excellent for our team’s future.”

Fischer and Annie O’Regan added late goals for Willows. Liz Stangel recorded the shutout in the net for the Eagles (13-6-2).

Baron said that the team’s progress through the season will set the tone for future teams at Harvest.

“This team has revolutionized what we’re doing as a program at Harvest,” he said. “What they demonstrated this season with their work ethic, with their attitude, but especially with their love and encouragement for one another and for the other teams around them, that is the kind of team we want coming up through the system.”

Geneva 4, Hoffman Estates 0: Kyleigh Dominguez had a hat trick and an assist Tuesday to lead the Geneva girls soccer team to a win over Hoffman Estates in the opening round of the Class 3A Geneva regional.

Jenna Dominguez scored the other goal for the Vikings (13-6-2), who will play either WW South or Rolling Meadows in Friday’s championship game.

Allie Mikos had 2 assists in the win for Geneva and Briar Schwardt added an assist as well. Emma Harkleroad made 3 saves in goal for the shutout.

Elgin 2, Rockford Auburn 1: At the Class 3A Auburn regional, Nathalia Garfias scored off an assist from Hayly Munoz in the second overtime to lift the Maroons (9-12) to the win. Garfias also scored Elgin’s first goal, also off an assist from Munoz. Hannah Erickson made 4 saves in goal for Elgin, which will play South Elgin in Friday’s title game after the Storm defeated Rockford East 9-0 Tuesday.

Bartlett 3, West Chicago 0: Kaitlin Brohan scored twice and Mariela Alba added a goal for Bartlett (17-5-1) at the Class 3A Glenbard North regional. Shaelen Kaiser had an assist for the Hawks and Teagan Noesen made 2 saves in goal. Bartlett will take on Batavia in the Friday regional final after Batavia downed Glenbard North 5-0 Tuesday.

Huntley 7, Dundee-Crown 0: Taryn Jakubowski scored 3 goals and AJ Sunter scored twice to lead Huntley (18-3-2) to a win in the Class 3A Huntley regional. Paige Renkosik had 4 saves in goal for the Red Raiders. Taylor Gonio made 6 saves for D-C (6-13-1). Huntley will play Hononegah, which defeated Jacobs 2-0, in Friday’s final.

Burlington Central 4, DeKalb 3: Jordan King, Anna McMahon and Elizabeth Gousios scored for the Rockets (17-6) and Abbi Ciganek had 8 saves in goal at the Class 2A Burlington Central regional. BC will play Sycamore in Friday’s regional final.