Lee Women Win NCCAA Mid-East Region Soccer Title

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The Lee women's soccer team laid claim to the NCCAA Mid-East Region title for the second straight year as they defeated Campbellsville University, 4-0 on a bitterly cold Wednesday night at the Lee Soccer Field.

With temperatures dropping into the thirties the Lady Flames heated things up on the field jumping out to an early lead on a goal by senior forward Kathryn Healy at the 25:38 mark.

Sophomore midfielder Kinsey Cichowitz set up the score with a beautiful pass into the box and was credited with the assist.

Lee extended the margin before the halftime break as Sarah Boyd put home a rebound off a shot from Healy to make it 2-0 in the 38^th minute. The home team outshot the Tigers 8-2 in the first half of play.

The Lady Flames would tack on two more goals in the second half to put the contest away as Cichowitz weaved in and out of traffic to notch her team-leading seventh score of the year at the 62:49 mark. Freshman Morgan Sandifer put the icing on the cake with a score in the 80^th minute to complete the shutout victory.

"After almost three weeks off we were a little rusty to start the game, but I felt like we got better as the game went on and I was really pleased with how we played tonight," said head coach Matt Yelton.

The Lady Flames outshot the Lady Tigers 22-5 and placed 14 shots on frame as they stayed on the attack for most of the evening. Campbellsville settled for four shots on goal in the contest. Lee earned seven corner kicks while the visitors registered just three.

Yelton liked the balance his team displayed in tonight's match, "We had four different goal scorers on the night and a lot of different players contribute and that's what it takes to be successful in postseason."

The back line for the Lady Flames continued their stellar play led by senior goalkeeper Marbel Egwuenu. The Lagos, Nigeria native was credited with four saves while posting her eighth clean sheet of the season. Campbellsville's keeper Amanda Howard tallied 10 saves in the match while allowing the four goals.

"Our defense was good again tonight and Mae (Marbel Egwuenu) made a few very good saves in the first half until we settled into the game," noted Yelton.

The victory moves the Lady Flames to 12-4-1 on the season. The loss drops the Lady Tigers to 13-8 overall.

After finishing atop of the Gulf South Conference regular season standings and winning the NCCAA regional crown, Lee will now prepare for the final step of the 2014 campaign as they await the groupings for the NCCAA National Tournament in Orlando, Fla. Dec. 2-6.

"We are looking forward to moving onto Orlando and hopefully we can continue to put together some really good performances over the last part of the season," Yelton concluded.