The Helias Crusaders look like they are starting to get back into the swing of things.
The Crusaders scored in the opening minutes of each half Wednesday night and blanked the Marshall Owls 2-0 at the 179 Soccer Park in Jefferson City on Senior Night.
"It was great to get back out on the field, this was a lot better than a couple of days ago," Helias coach Chuck Register said "We got that game under our belts, then we got the chance to practice and work on some things (Tuesday) and we looked a lot better."
Helias, after not playing a game for 10 days, lost 4-0 to Jefferson City on Monday. It took all of two minutes Wednesday to snap that scoreless string.
Braden Remmert booted a corner kick that Sam Heckart headed into the net to give the Crusaders the lead.
"Braden and Sam have been connecting on that pretty regularly," Register said. "It was nice to see us get that one, it was one of the better corner kicks we've had this season.
"It was great to get the lead."
Even though they didn't score the remainder of the half, Register liked what he saw from the Crusader offense.
"We were doing a good job of keeping it on the ground, we put some combinations together," he said. "It was fun to watch."
The Crusaders finished with 11 shots in the game.
Helias made it 2-0 four minutes into the second half. After a scramble in front of the Marshall net on a Helias corner kick, senior Wyatt Loethen found himself all lone with the ball near the top of the box. He lined a shot past the Marshall keeper to give Helias an insurance score.
"That was exciting for Wyatt, great for him on Senior Night," Register said. "Plus, it gave us a little cushion."
Ben Mitan picked up his third shutout of the season for the Crusaders, stopping one Marshall shot on goal.
"We did a good job of working together as a unit to get one," Register said. "Ben didn't get very many shots at him, which means the defense was strong in front of him. We'll take that every game."
Helias honored its seven seniors - Zach Simon, Nathan Mercurio, Nick Hafner, Ian Luebbert, Dane Haugen, Blake Steinmetz and Loethen - prior to the game. All seven were in the starting lineup and on the field for Heckart's goal.
"They played pretty well together," Register said.
Helias (6-9-2) is scheduled to play Friday in a rescheduled game at Hannibal. The JV will start at 5 p.m., followed by the varsity contest around 6:45 p.m.
"We just want to keep playing and get that one in," Register said. "We have to start putting things together, climb that mountain and start peaking.
"We got to play, you don't want to miss games at this time of the season."
In Wednesday's JV game, Marshall defeated Helias 2-0.