Fighting Owls sophomore Chandler Schmidt (North Harford) scored a career high nine goals Friday, leading No. 1 seed Harford Community College, to a 31-8 blowout of the No. 4 Essex Knights, in a Region XX Tournament semifinal played at the Harford Sports Complex.
The Fighting Owls (12-1) will play for the region title Sunday at 1 p.m. Harford will take on No. 2 seed Howard Community College for a bid to the NJCAA National Tournament.
Schmidt collected a hat trick just seven minutes into the first quarter Friday, sandwiching three goals around an Alex Wroe (Fallston) score to give Harford an early 4-0 lead. He'd net three straight goals midway through the second and two more in the third as part of an 16-3 Harford run.
The Fighting Owls defense put on a lights out performance, allowing no more than three goals from the Knights (8-5) in any quarter. They tallied 19 caused turnovers, while limiting their conference rival to 28 shots.
Harford has won 12 straight games and its lone regular season meeting with Howard, Harford won 11-6.
Aiding in the Harford scoring were Owen Consoletti, six goals; Tyler Legge (Bel Air), three goals; Eli Doyle, two goals; Grady DiPeso (C. Milton Wright), two goals; Gaige Lennon, two goals; Reece Wiseman, one goal; Josh Jahn (Joppatowne), one goal; Tyler Wagoner (Perryville), one goal; Nick Jenkens (Bel Air), one goal; Ja Nari Lee (Aberdeen); and Tyler Klein, one goal.
Adding assists were Wagoner, (4); Consoletti, (4); Wroe, (4); Doyle, (3); Wiseman, (2); Andrew Stump, (Fallston-2); Nick Atkinson, (CMW-1); Shawn Cardwell, (Havre de Grace-1); Klein, (1); and Peyton Winters (1).
Harford goalie Barret Casto made five saves, while Spencer Cable came on an stopped two shots in the fourth quarter.
Stump, Moriah Yousefi and Shaun Vines (Perryville) all collected five ground balls.