If coach Paul Furey and his seniors can take one thing away from the 2015 season, it is their never-say-die attitude. Such was the case on Tuesday evening in another heartbreaking loss. This one coming in the opening round of the Gulf South Conference playoffs. The Flames fell behind 2-0 in the opening 12t minutes and again 3-1 at the end of the first half.
They took the fight to the University of West Florida until the final buzzer in the 3-2 loss. The loss dropped the Flames to 11-5-2 on the year and the Argos advance to the semi-final round of the GSC playoffs with an 11-5 record.
A pair of penalty kicks proved costly.
West Florida converted a PK by Felipe Oliveria in the 36th minute and the Flames missed a penalty kick opportunity with 21 minutes remaining in the hard-fought battle.
"Our guys fought like I knew they would, led by our senior class," Furey said. "My heart breaks for those guys because they played with so much emotion and left it all on the field. But credit West Florida they came ready to play."
Oliveria opened the scoring for the visitors with less than nine minutes gone off the scoreboard clock when he stuck a shot over the sprawling arms of Lee goalkeeper Tom Halsall. The assist was registered by Marteinn Urbancic. The Argos struck again at the 12:35 mark, going up 2-0 when Japhet Bitsindou picked up a missed cleared ball from the top of the box and blasted it to the back of the net.
The Flames rallied on David Perez's 16th goal of the year. It came on a well-executed double assist from Travis Kiger and Jose Orellana. The rally was short-lived when Oliveria was awarded the penalty kick, giving the Argos the 3-1 advantage.
The intensity grew late in the second stanza. Cheered on by likely the best fans in the GSC, the Flames cut the margin to 3-2 in the 82nd minute as Perez picked up an assist from Jonathan Finlay, spun around the defender and tallied his 17th goal of the year. It put an exclamation point on a great season by the Lee junior forward.
"It was a no brainer for him (DP) to get player of the year this year," said Furey. "When we played UWF down at their place in early October he had a spectacular free kick goal and he's been doing it all season. The thing I liked tonight was he wins the award but he didn't let it go to his head. He came out tonight and scored two goals and even got us the penalty kick in the second half but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be."
The Flames continued to battle in the final minutes but the Argos were able to turn away several scoring attempts.
The final stats show West Florida holding Lee to only 10 shots the entire contest and three were on goal. Argo keeper Andre Morera recorded one save in giving up a pair of goals. West Florida fired 12 shots and placed six on target. Halsall had three saves for the Flames.
Lee had a 6-0 advantage in penalty kicks, three in the first half and three more in the second period. The hard-fought contest saw West Florida charged with 16 fouls and Lee 13.
"I think having the success in the middle of the year and the high ranking caused everybody to come out and play us really tough and give us their best shot down the stretch but our boys were pretty resilient. In every game we came out focused and ready to go. This is a really special group that I'll never forget," concluded Furey.