Helena defeats Chelsea 4-3 for first area win
Published 2:45 pm Thursday, March 9, 2017
By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer
CHELSEA–Both the Helena and Chelsea boys soccer teams wanted to get off to a good start in the first area game of the season on Wednesday, March 8, and in a game that Chelsea controlled early, the Huskies were able to fight back for a 4-3 win.
Chelsea took an early 1-0 lead in the 28th minute of the first half and from that point forward, Helena regrouped and seized control.
Helena tied the game with nine minutes left in the first half when Zac Fuller put a penalty kick into the back of the net.
A few minutes later, Fuller scored his second goal of the game to put Helena up 2-1 heading to halftime.
The Huskies third and fourth goals came in the second half from Cael Cranor and Brennen Brown. Helena had a 4-1 lead with 15-20 minutes left in the game but Chelsea would not go down quietly.
Chelsea scored its second goal off a corner kick and then a third goal came after a direct shot that ricocheted off a Huskies player and into the net. The third goal came with just 22 seconds left in the game and Helena ran out the clock for the 4-3 win.
“It’s always great to win a road area game,” Helena head coach Zach Morgan said. “Chelsea came out and controlled the game at the beginning of the match until we settled in a bit. I noticed that they were trying to send their forwards through the gaps of our defenders. I told my defenders to close the gap (stay closer) to their men. Just about that time, they scored on a great pass from their left outside midfielder to their forward. After that, I was able to make some changes and correct the back line issue. From then on we had control of the game with a 4-1 lead until about 20-15 minutes before the end of the game.”
Both teams finished with 11 shots on goal and Chelsea held an 8-2 edge over Helena in corner kicks.
With the win, Helena moved to 5-4 on the season and 1-0 in area play.
Chelsea fell to 4-6 overall and 0-1 in area play.
Helena will take on No. 1 Pelham in a big area matchup on Friday, March 10.