The Helias Lady Crusaders had just one aim Saturday morning.
"We wanted to play at our level the entire game and see what the result is," Helias coach Brad Dempsey said. "And I think we did that."
The Lady Crusaders scored two goals in each half Saturday in a 4-0 victory against the Rock Bridge Bruins in the Capital City Invitational at the 179 Soccer Park.
Dempsey said the Lady Crusaders had often played to the level of their opponent this season. Good team, play good. Not so good team, not so good. He just wanted to get their best effort Saturday.
"This was a very good game for us," Dempsey said. "We played very well."
The Lady Crusaders tallied their two first-half goals in the final nine minutes.
The first came when a corner kick by Becky Roberts found Kaysie Scheuler.
"Becky is putting great balls in the box and Kaysie went up and got that one," Dempsey said.
Tiffany Weaver made it 2-0 about five minutes later, scoring on an assist by Jordan Poire.
The scores came on two of Helias' three shots on goal in the first half.
Helias' second-half goals also came late, both on strong individual runs.
"We've been preaching to run through the ball since we took over this program," Dempsey said. "Doing that got us both of those goals."
Julie Harris made it 3-0 with nine minutes left before Poire's goal four minutes later capped the scoring.
Sydnee Kliethermes got the shutout in goal for the Lady Crusaders, stopping six shots.
It was Helias' third game in less than 24 hours and the Lady Crusaders got a lot of quality play from their reserves throughout the Invitational.
"They gained conference in themselves and from their teammates," Dempsey said. "We had girls step up."
Helias finished the Invitational at 2-0-1 after tying Lee's Summit West and beating Springfield Catholic on Friday.
"This was an opportunity to play three quality opponents on our home field," Dempsey said. "Our focus was to get better one game at a time."
The Lady Crusaders (11-5-1, ranked No. 7 in Class 2) will have a pair of tough road tests this week. Helias is slated to play Tuesday at Visitation Academy and Friday at Incarnate Word Academy. Visitation is ranked No. 1 in Class 2, while Incarnate Word is No. 4 in the same class.
"We're going to get a chance to see where we're at," Dempsey said.
There are just seven games remaining before the start of the district tournament.
"We're all gearing up for the postseason, we just want to get to the postseason healthy," Dempsey said.
Capital City Invitational
Here are the results, remaining schedule and tournament points for the Capital City Invitational at the 179 Soccer Park:
FRIDAY, APRIL 25
Helias 0, Lee's Summit West 0
Rock Bridge 2, Sedalia Sacred Heart 0
Jefferson City 3, Springfield Catholic 0
Lee's Summit West 2, Rock Bridge 1
Jefferson City 3, Sedalia Sacred Heart 0
Helias 3, Springfield Catholic 1
SATURDAY, APRIL 26
Helias 4, Rock Bridge 0
Springfield Catholic 3, Sedalia Sacred Heart 0
DATE, TIME TBD
Jefferson City vs. Lee's Summit West (details here)
TOURNAMENT POINTS
Helias 15; Jefferson City 14; Springfield Catholic 8; Lee's Summit West 7; Rock Bridge 7; Sedalia Sacred Heart 0.