Just three minutes into Tuesday's game, everything was great for the Helias Crusaders.
"We're playing well and we're getting the ball up the field without a lot of pressure on us," Helias coach Chuck Register said.
Scoring two goals that quickly against the Father Tolton Trailblazers made it look like an easy night was ahead for the Crusaders at the 179 Soccer Park.
But just six minutes later ...
"We make a couple of simple mistakes and we get the ball put into the net on us," Register said.
That 2-0 lead had turned into a tie at 2. Tolton eventually took a 3-2 advantage into halftime before Helias scored twice in the second half to take a 4-3 victory.
"At halftime we made a few adjustments to take some of the pressure off our defense," Register said. "We had to try something."
The biggest change was concentrating on playing the ball outside, instead of down the middle.
"We played a lot better as a team, putting the ball into spaces where we could get some better shots off and control the ball a little more," Register said. "It helped us get the ball up the field and make (Tolton) think a little bit more on defense. We got the ball moving."
The Crusaders had the ball moving early Tuesday. Ian Luebbert got the Crusaders on the board just a minute into the contest with a goal after he drove hard to the Trailblazer net.
Helias made it 2-0 just two minutes later when Dane Haugen headed in a corner kick by Braden Remmert.
But things turned the way of the Trailblazers. Sam Molli took advantage when Helias failed to clear the ball from in front of its own net to make it 2-1 a minute after Haugen's goal. Molli then tied it at 2 with a score five minutes later.
Noah Lawrence gave Tolton a 3-2 lead with a score a little more than a minute before halftime.
But then came the halftime chat and things turned back in favor of the Crusaders in the second half.
"It was so much cleaner," Register said. "We were playing a lot more together than we did in the first half."
The Crusaders saw a handful of good chances to score before tying the game midway through the half. Haugen knotted it with his second goal of the contest, coming off a free kick from Remmert.
Helias got the game-winner with 14 minutes remaining when Arris Pardalos scored off an assist by Matthew Schulte.
"We're still working on things like trying to put the right combinations together," Register said. "That second half performance maybe provided a glimpse into what we could do the remainder of the season."
That starts tonight when Helias (4-8-2) hosts potential district tournament foe Rolla in a game originally scheduled to be played Thursday.
"We're going to come out and see what happens," Register said. "Maybe the second half here will spark us."
There was no JV game Tuesday.