Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Chelsea Hornets bounced back from losing their opening two matches of the season to finish the Lakeshore Shootout with an undefeated record and secure the Silver Division championship.

The Hornets earned two wins and a draw on the weekend to get back on track and secure a trophy in the process.

Chelsea opened the tournament with a clash against the Austin Black Bears on Friday, Feb. 16 at the Eagle Sports Complex in Calera.

Right out of the gate, the Hornets put together a complete performance on both ends of the pitch to establish themselves as the favorites.

On offense, Chelsea not only scored its first goal of the campaign, but they added three more for a four-goal performance against Austin.

The Hornets defense had a strong afternoon as well as it turned in a clean sheet in the 4-0 victory.

Shortly afterwards, Chelsea took on Northridge in hopes of going 2-0 in the tournament.

While the Hornets surrendered a goal in their matchup with the Jaguars, they continued to dictate the flow of the game on offense and scored three goals in their 3-1 win.

That kept the Hornets undefeated in the Silver Division ahead of their final game of the tournament against Daphne on Saturday, Feb. 17.

Chelsea put a goal on the scoreboard against the Trojans, but Daphne also scored to leave the teams in a deadlock.

In the end, the match ended with a 1-1 draw, which kept the Hornets record for the tournament perfect and clinched the Silver Division championship.

Helena finished in third place in the Silver Division after earning two wins on the weekend.

While the Huskies lost their tournament opener to Northridge on Friday, Feb. 17, they bounced back just a few hours later to get back on track.

Helena took on Class 7A Austin in its second match of the tournament, and it got out to a strong start and didn’t let up from there.

The Huskies scored the first goal of the game to take the early lead in the match as they kept the Black Bears off the scoreboard.

From there, Helena added two more goals to add to its commanding lead and increase the pressure on Austin.

Ashlynn Beery scored twice to power her team’s offense and Piper Stovall earned the other goal. Miah Rosener, Baileigh Rumage and Kendall Payton each recorded an assist as well.

The Black Bears couldn’t find the back of the net to give the Huskies a clean sheet and a 3-0 match win. The victory snapped a five-match losing streak to end the day on a high note.

The next day, Helena took on another 7A opponent in the Smiths Station Panthers, and the match yielded the same result.

The Huskies continued to roll on defense by holding the Panthers scoreless as another shutout gave them the opportunity to capitalize on the opposite end of the pitch.

Helena then fired three goals past the Smiths Station backline as it rolled to another dominant 3-0 victory.

Beery and Payton each had a goal in the win, and Kate Hendrix ended the day with two assists.

Rosener was named to the All-Tournament Team for her performance throughout the weekend.