In the 55th minute of Saturday's massive 2-1 road win over FC Tulsa at ONEOK Field, Sporting Kansas City II striker Wilson Harris etched his name into the history books.
With a clever near-post run and first-time finish off Dillon Serna's low cross, Harris bagged his third game-winner of 2020 and took his goal tally to a team-leading five on the season.
Even more significantly, Harris became the youngest player ever to hit 20 career goals in the USL Championship.
After scoring three times in 2018 and adding a dozen goals last year, Harris reached the 20-goal milestone on Saturday at the age of 20 years and 275 days. No other USL Championship player has accomplished the feat at a younger age.
This eye-catching achievement is the latest feather in the cap for Harris, who in 2019 was one of the top-scoring professional teenagers in the world. He led Sporting KC II with 12 goals last season and appears well on his way to taking golden boot honors for the club this time around.
A native of Los Angeles, Harris moved to Kansas City in 2017 to join the Sporting Kansas City Academy. He broke into the Sporting KC II squad in 2018 and has enjoyed a prolific run in the USL Championship ever since, scoring his 20 career goals in just 50 league appearances.
"We always say that when Wilson gets chances, he'll bury them," said Sporting KC II head coach Paulo Nagamura after Harris notched a brace in a 3-0 home win over OKC Energy FC on Aug. 22. "When he gets chances, he'll nail them and put them in the back of the net... We know Wilson and what he can do, so we try to put him in the best spots so he can do that more often."
Harris and Sporting KC II (4-5-1, 13 points) are just four points behind Louisville City FC for the second and final playoff spot in the four-team Group E of the USL Championship. The top two finishers in Groups A through H will advance to the 16-team postseason in October.
Sporting KC II will round out the regular season campaign with six more away fixtures, a daunting run that continues Friday at cross-state rivals Saint Louis FC (4-3-3, 15 points) at West Community Stadium in Fenton, Missouri. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT with a live stream on ESPN Plus.
