The scoring came early and often Wednesday night.
The Helias Lady Crusaders didn't get the earliest goal, but they did score the most often on their way to a 6-3 victory against the Sedalia Smith-Cotton Lady Tigers at the Crusader Athletic Complex.
"We've lost ourselves in the past few games and I put a lot of pressure on them at the start," Helias coach Jay Hebenheimer said. "I think that pressure showed the way we started the game."
Smith-Cotton got on the board on its first shot on goal by Maria Aonzo a little less than seven minutes into the game.
Helias answered about two minutes later when Smith-Cotton was whistled for a foul in the box. Bailey Henson converted the ensuing penalty kick to tie it at 1.
But the Lady Tigers had a quick response when Penelope Main scored less than 30 seconds later to put Smith-Cotton back in front.
"That was a shaky start," Hebenheimer said. "Those were mistakes by the defense and good teams will capitalize when you make mistakes like we did on the backline."
The mistakes stopped, Hebenheimer said, when the Helias defense settled down when the players started to communicate better as the Lady Crusaders didn't give up a goal the remainder of the first half.
Helias tied it at the 29:56 mark on a goal by Reese Hamilton, then took the lead for good about five minutes later on a booming shot off the left foot of Izzy Luebbert.
The Lady Crusaders extended their lead to 4-2 midway through the half on a goal by Savannah Feltrop.
"We got things going," Hebenheimer said. "The girls were frustrated with the start, but we played a lot better after those first 10 minutes or so."
Helias got on the board less than two minutes into the second half on a goal by Morgan Yanskey, assisted by Lainy Lamb.
Aonzo got her second goal of the game midway through the second half, converting a free kick from about 35 yards out into the top left corner of the net to make it 5-3.
"That's a vertically challenged goalkeeper trying to stop a great shot that was perfectly placed," Hebenheimer said.
The Lady Crusaders got their final goal with a little more than 10 minutes remaining when Hannah Loethen scored off an assist by Henson.
It was Helias' fourth game in the past five days.
"We're going to get some rest because we're not allowed to practice over the (Easter) break," Hebenheimer said. "It's going to give us a chance to recover as we really get into the meat of our season."
It's the third straight loss for Smith-Cotton (7-3).
Helias (8-4-1) is off until next Wednesday when it travels to St. Louis to take on Kirkwood in a varsity-only game.
In Wednesday's JV game limited to one half, Helias defeated Smith-Cotton 5-0.