Helena girls soccer clinches playoff spot as boys, girls win doubleheader at Indian Springs
Published 8:48 am Thursday, April 18, 2024
- Helena reached the girls soccer playoffs in a dominant win over Indian Springs to sweep the season series on a night when the Huskies boys earned their first area win of the season. (File)
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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor
INDIAN SPRINGS VILLAGE – The Helena Huskies varsity girls soccer team is postseason bound after taking their second win of the season over county foe Indian Springs in a top-10 battle.
Helena cruised to a 6-1 win in the varsity girls match on Tuesday, April 16 at Indian Springs School, and the varsity boys team followed suit with a 3-1 victory over Springs.
The Huskies entered the match in the driver’s seat to make the playoffs as they held a goal differential advantage over Indian Springs, meaning they would advance with a win or a loss by less than five goals, but they left nothing to chance in a dominant performance.
Helena flew out of the gate and got to work on offense early and often throughout the first half.
The Huskies scored the opener and put four more goals past Springs for a five-goal first half, and Helena held the hosts scoreless in the entire opening 40 minutes to go into halftime with a 5-0 lead.
While Springs scored its first goal of the match in the second half, the Huskies matched that offensive effort by adding a sixth goal in response, which was good enough to make the lead 6-1.
In the end, after Helena entered the season without a single win over Indian Springs in program history, it earned its second of 2024 to seal the second and final playoff spot out of Class 6A, Area 8.
The boys game that followed brought an opportunity for the Huskies to right the ship in their final area game of the season.
Not only had Helena fallen short to Indian Springs in their first meeting of the season, it entered the match without an area win in 2024. However, that changed in their trip across the county to face their area foe Springs.
While Indian Springs found the back of the net during the match, the Huskies outmatched the hosts on offense and scored three goals over the course of the 80 minutes.
The three-goal night on offense combined with allowing just one goal on defense gave Helena the 3-1 victory to end area play with their first win in their six area matches.
The Huskies boys have two matches remaining this season, first on the road at Hewitt-Trussville on Thursday, April 18 at 5:30 p.m.
Then, they will play their final match of the year in a doubleheader with the varsity girls’ final regular season game at Pell City. The girls will kick off at 5:30 p.m. before the boys take the field at 7 p.m.