For the first time since 2002, coach Matt Yelton and his Lee women's soccer team have dropped two straight matches. Westmont College jumped out to a 3-0 lead and then turned back a gritty second-half comeback by the Lady Flames to secure the 3-2 victory.
"We just dug ourselves a hole and right now our upper classmen are not performing the way I think they should," said Yelton
. "We just gave it away today. All three of their goals came from us passing the ball to them."
Westmont, always an NAIA power, scored its first goal in the 17th minute on Tiffany Dimaculangan's
unassisted shot into the back of the net.
The margin grew to 2-0 near the end of the first half (43:11) when Kathryn Hornibrook
knocked in an unassisted goal from 12 yards out.
Four minutes deep into the second half (49:03), the deficit grew to 3-0 when Christine Adams collected an assist from Hornibrook
and tallied from 10 yards out. The Lady Flames caught fire in the 58th minute and cut the margin to 3-1 when Debbie Rogers tallied on a free kick that bounced into the net and with the final minute ticking away (89:05), Chloe Rader got her second goal of the season on a free kick from 30 yards out.
The Lady Flames had 10 shots and placed four on goal. Westmont attempted 12 shots and five were on target. Lee freshman keeper Haley Gribler
had two saves as did Lindsey Smith, the goalkeeper for Westmont.
The Lady Flames will return to Cleveland and prepare for another big challenge on Friday evening at 6 p.m. Emory University, a NCAA Division III power, will visit the Lee Soccer Field for the annual Kickin
' It for Kids with Cancer contest. Members of the Lee soccer team will be selling tee-shirts the entire week and all the proceeds will go the Austin Hatcher Foundation.