The chances were there, but the Helias Crusaders just couldn't capitalize.
The Crusaders narrowly missed scoring on several set pieces during Friday's game with Springfield Catholic and ended up on the short end of a 2-1 loss to the Fightin' Irish in the Helias Shootout.
The game was tied at 1 at halftime and a little more than 12 minutes into the half, the Crusaders had a nice header off a corner kick sail just over the goal.
Two minutes later, the Irish scored the game-winner.
Helias then had a couple more good scoring chances, including a floating shot in the final 30 seconds that went over the goalkeeper's hands, only to bounce off the crossbar.
"You only get so many chances, you've got to finish them. We just didn't finish," Helias coach Chuck Register said after the loss at the 179 Soccer Park.
It wasn't just one area where the Crusaders came up a bit short.
"We got some good through-balls and we got some great chances. On our set plays, we had great chances. There were corners that we just missed and the free kicks we just missed," Register said. "You get those down in the net instead of over the top, it's a different game."
The day started well for the Crusaders, as less than two minutes into the game, Ian Luebbert settled the ball more than 40 yards away from the goal and pounded a shot that floated to the high left corner for a score.
"That was a sweet goal," Register said. "That was one of his best goals all year. He turned on that. That was another set play where the ball came out and he was at the right place. He hit it and we thought, "Oh my gosh, that's what we needed.' But we just coulnd't keep possession after that."
The score seemed to awaken the Irish, who started to play much better immediately after that, and they got the tying goal 10 minutes later.
"We talked about it at halftime, we played for seven or eight minutes and then we lost possession, lost our focus on what we were doing," Register said.
That goal changed the complexion of the game.
"If we would have cleared that, it's 1-0 at halftime and it's a different story," Register said. "Then we come out (after halftime) and I think we play a lot better."
Springfield Catholic clearly had the better of play during the last 20 minutes of the first half, and dominated even more after the break, owning the time of possession by a huge margin.
"We've got to keep possession of the ball, keep it on the ground," Register said. "We work better when it's on the ground. We did that the first eight (minutes) of the first half and the last eight of the first half.
"When we got possession in the second half, we had chances. We had three pretty good shots and just didn't finish them."
The Crusaders wrap up play in the event at 11 a.m. today against Carthage. Springfield Catholic plays Smithville at 9 a.m.