It didn't take long for Grace Winegar to make an impact Thursday night.
Winegar, a Helias freshman, was inserted into the game against Father Tolton with a little more than 14 minutes remaining in the first half at the 179 Soccer Park.
The Lady Crusaders were lining up for a corner kick and when the Trailblazers' keeper stopped Helias' first shot, Winegar was there to put back the rebound for a goal.
"She's a ball-hawk and she wants to score," Helias coach Brad Dempsey said.
And then for good measure, Winegar scored again four minutes later as the Lady Crusaders blanked the Trailblazers 3-0.
"The idea is you have to go make the play and Grace Winegar made the play, twice," Dempsey said. "Great for her, we need that. She brought that spark off the bench and we needed it."
The Lady Crusaders got on the board 10 minutes into the contest on a goal by Kayla Yanskey.
"She seems to get on the board almost every game," Dempsey said.
And while Dempsey was happy with the 3-0 lead at the half, he believes the Lady Crusaders left a goal or two out there on the field in the opening 40 minutes.
"We move the ball well, we understand what to do," he said. "But when you get into the attacking third, that's when the field gets smaller and you have to get very specific with what you do with the ball.
"But right now, when we get into that attacking third, our communication isn't specific enough. Sometimes we get surprised by what our teammates do and we have to do better with that."
The Trailblazers tightened things up defensively in the second half and kept the Lady Crusaders off the board.
"Father Tolton deserves credit, they got their players behind the ball and defended well in the second half," Dempsey said. "But shame on us a little bit for not making the adjustments we needed to make.
"There were some plays, some moments that we didn't finish and didn't communicate. When we look at stats, we're playing with the very good teams, it just seems the results don't match the way we play."
Ashley Rehagen got the shutout in goal for the Lady Crusaders (7-9). All seven of Helias' victories this season have come via shutouts.
"I didn't see the step forward I would have liked to have seen tonight," Dempsey said. "It's frustrating. Hopefully we can reach our potential, the talent is there, it's just not meshing yet."
The Lady Crusaders have six games left in the regular season to sort things out.
"I know all too well what happens, you can run out of time," Dempsey said. "I hope that doesn't happen and I'm going to keep believing that things will come together."
The Lady Crusaders are back in action Saturday when they are slated to host Kirkwood.
The JV game will start at 11 a.m., with the varsity contest scheduled to follow around 12:45 p.m.