Helias preserves early advantage in win against Tolton

Nick Brandt of Helias and Spencer Hagan of Father Tolton race for the ball during action Monday night at the 179 Soccer Park.
Nick Brandt of Helias and Spencer Hagan of Father Tolton race for the ball during action Monday night at the 179 Soccer Park.

The Helias Crusaders had been in this situation before and not been able to finish the job.

But they did Monday night.

Helias jumped out to an early 2-0 lead against the Father Tolton Trailblazers and went on for a 3-1 victory at the 179 Soccer Park.

"We've had a problem in the past of getting early goals like that and letting down," Helias coach Michael Metzger said. "And I reminded them of that. We were just 12 minutes in and we had to keep playing.

"I think we did that, for the most part. We kept it together."

Helias got on the board nine minutes into Monday night's contest when Matthew Schulte lined home a long shot into the upper corner of the net.

"It was good to see Matthew get that one, he's been struggling with an injury," Metzger said. "Finishing one like that is good for his confidence."

Helias doubled its lead three minutes later on another long shot, this one from Logan Pfenenger.

"We were pretty good putting the ball where we needed to with the longer shots," Metzger said.

Helias made it 3-0 midway through the half when Grant Stokes took a pass, dribbled around a defender and put it past the Tolton keeper.

"We had some good ball movement on that play and Grant got on top of it and scored," Metzger said. "Grant is one of those guys who knows how to finish."

On the defensive side, Helias keeper Elijah Korenberg made a pair of difficult saves to keep Tolton off the board into late in the game.

"He had to make some saves and who knows what might have happened if one of those went in," Metzger said. "It kept the momentum on our side.

"He's getting more and more comfortable every game back there."

Tolton got on the scoreboard late on a goal by Noah Lawrence.

Helias (9-6) will host Mexico on Thursday. In Monday's JV game, Helias posted a 6-1 victory against Tolton.

Brice Bond and Isaac Johnson had two goals each for the Crusaders. Zach Paschal and Jonathan Garner had one each. Paschal, Johnson and Jack Hoey had assists for Helias (8-3).