LePage’s late goals lead Lady Jays past Helias

With the game tied at 1 and the clock ticking under six minutes, somebody needed to make a play or the crosstown showdown between the Jefferson City Lady Jays and Helias Lady Crusaders was going to overtime.

That someone turned out to be Tayler LePage. Twice.

LePage tallied two goals in those final minutes to lead Jefferson City to a 3-1 win against Helias at the 179 Soccer Park.

“It’s a good feeling,” LePage said, drenched after a water bucket dump by her teammates. “It was big for us to pull this one out.”

LePage’s first goal came on a rebound. Katie Tambke fed Kenzie Gourley near the top of the box and she knocked a shot that was stopped.

“That was a beautiful through ball by Tambke,” Lady Jays coach Tom Guinn said. “That really set things into motion.”

LePage was there to corral the rebound and lined it into the back of the net.

“I have to credit Kenzie for that one, I was just there to finish that one,” LePage said.

The insurance goal came with 1:40 remaining when LePage scored on a breakaway.

“That one got me over the top,” LePage said. “That one got me excited, I really wanted to get a win against Helias my senior year.”

Down a goal, the Lady Crusaders had shifted into a more offensive set to try to get the tie and that led to the breakaway.

“We were trying to press forward and they just made a great run,” Helias coach Brad Dempsey said.

It was a relatively even game offensively. Jefferson City finished with 12 shots, seven on goal, while Helias had eight, including six on net.

Mackenzie Lochhead got the Lady Jays on the board 13 minutes into the contest, knocking a shot into the left corner of the net.

“She’s a right-place, right-time kind of player,” Guinn said. “When she gets the opportunity like that, she usually converts. She’s had a lot of big goals like that this season.”

Guinn was sure his team needed more goals if it expected to win.

“We knew one wasn’t going to be enough,” he said.

Helias tied it nine minutes into the second half. After Jefferson City was whistled for a foul in the box, Emma Wyrick converted the ensuing penalty kick.

“Emma just blasted it,” Dempsey said.

That got the attention of the Lady Jays.

“When they got the equalizer, I thought ‘Oh, no,’” LePage said.

Helias had the better of play for much of the second half.

“Our goal as a team is to control the ball, connect on passes, build up an offense, play together and we did that,” Dempsey said.

But things started to turn back to Jefferson City’s way late in the half.

“With their intensity and their drive, Jefferson City got us back into their game and they were trying to really take it at us,” Dempsey said. “They made us pay for it.”

Jefferson City had a chance to take the lead midway through the second half, but Helias defender Lexi Lamb was able to clear a ball off the line just before it was going to cross the line.

“We have a great defense, I think we did a great job against them,” Dempsey said.

Megan Foster finished with five saves for the Lady Jays.

“Megan made some good saves, she shouldn’t go unrecognized,” Guinn said.

In the end, Guinn came up on the winning side in his first taste of the Jefferson City-Helias rivalry as a head coach.

“It lives up to the hype,” he said. “Players are just flying into each other, there are girls who may want to win this at least as much or more as they want to win a district championship.

“We haven’t really been in a game like this yet this season. There were some really hard tackles, it was a different game, the kids play different, the atmosphere was different.”

Jefferson City (16-4-1) will host Waynesville on Friday. Helias (11-7) is back in action Saturday afternoon at Quincy, Ill.

Wednesday’s JV game ended it a tie at 1. Michalee Sipi scored for Helias, while Lexi Acock tallied the goal for Jefferson City.