By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

CHELSEA – Success is nothing new for Lando Nichols, who is finally in his final season as a starter for the Chelsea soccer team after being a member of the team for several years now, but what he did to start the season for the Hornets on Monday, Feb. 11, may have been a sign of things to come this season for the senior.

Nichols kick started his final season with Chelsea by netting three goals to pick up a hat-trick effort and lead the Hornets to a dominant 7-1 victory against Susan Moore High School.

After scoring 22 goals during his junior season to earn a spot on the All-County First Team, Nichols entered this season as one of the best forwards in the county with plenty of starting experience, and with a start like that, he has instantly made Chelsea a dangerous team moving forward.

The impressive thing about his hat trick, however, was that it came after the Hornets had already built a 4-1 advantage, showing how deep the scoring on this year’s team can be.

Early in the game, it was the duo that has the Hornets excited this year, as Nichols was able to find fellow senior Tony Nettuno less than seven minutes into the game to give the Hornets a quick 1-0 advantage.

Susan Moore answered back five minutes later after a mistake was made in the backfield, but it was one of very few mistakes the Hornets made defensively on the night.

Close to seven minutes later, Chelsea found the net again. This time, Nichols wound a shot from the corner that was saved, but Nick Ayers was in the right place at the right time and pushed the rebound into the back of the net to put the Hornets up 2-1 without Nichols having even scored yet.

In the final 15 minutes of the opening period, Chelsea was able to add two more goals to its lead.

The first of those two goals came on another rebound opportunity, as Chris Nettuno was able to find the ball off of another corner attempt.  Once the ball found his foot, he was able to bury it into the back of the net to give his team a 3-1 advantage.

Shortly after, Nichols and Tony Nettuno were back at it, as Nichols eventually found his teammate for a great opportunity, and after the keeper for Susan Moore made a mistake, Andrew Messier cleaned it up to give the Hornets their fourth goal of the half for a 4-2 advantage at the break.

It didn’t take long into the second half before Nichols finally broke the seal on his impressive night. He got a pass from Matt Reinsch and finished it off with a great goal to put the Hornets on top 5-1 early in the second half.

Nichols was able to add a second goal very quickly thanks to a free kick eventually found its way to him for a header that put the Hornets on top 6-1.

After close to 12 minutes went by, Nichols was able to grab the hat-trick goal thanks to his partner in crime Tony Nettuno finding him for the special goal that put the Hornets on top 7-1 in the late going.

Holding a large lead, the rest of the game was about controlling the advantage, which Chelsea did with ease to pull off the 7-1 victory.