The Lee men’s soccer team scored early and often en route to a 4-0 victory over Trevecca Nazarene on Saturday night at the Lee Soccer Field.
The win secured the Lee Olive Garden Invitational Championship for the Flames. Lee moves to 2-0 on the young season while the Trojans fall to 0-2.
David Perez got things started soon after the opening whistling as he nailed home his first goal of the season off a Jon Finlay assist at the 4:56 mark. Freshman Danny Johnston set up the run and was also credited with an assist.
The leading goal scorer from a year ago was just getting started. In the 38th minute Perez beat the keeper off a pass from Rob Cutchin to put Lee up 2-0.
Sophomore Matt Brady capped off the first half with his first career goal off an assist from Finlay and Travis Kiger.
Both teams ended the contest with 15 shots. Trevecca put nine on frame while the Flames placed 10 on target. The Trojans earned six corner kicks to Lee’s four.
Junior forward Quade Marinell capped the scoring in the 53rd minute as he punched home a corner kick from Perez, for his second goal in as many matches.
“Quade and David are very special players and they have a tremendous drive to win and a great work rate,” Furey noted. “David has so much confidence right now and he’s ready to take guys on. Quade is a machine in the middle and really makes things happen. We have two really good goal scorers, but across the board we have a lot of guys that can put the ball in the net.”
Senior goalkeeper Tom Halsall turned in his second consecutive shutout to start the season. The native of Southport, England came up with eight big saves, including several early denials when the issue was still in doubt.
“After we got the first goal, Trevecca had a few really good scoring chances and Tom came up with some big saves for us tonight,” noted Furey.
Things began to slip away from the Trojans in the 12th minute as starting keeper Daniel Mudd was hit with a red card and ejected for touching the ball outside the box during a Lee scoring opportunity. Mudd allowed one goal and had one save in 11:48 of work. Stephen Sherer worked the final 78:12 in net and had five saves while yielding three goals.
Following the match senior co-captain Jon Finlay was named Most Outstanding Defensive Player of the Lee Olive Garden Invitational. Perez claimed Most Outstanding Offensive Player honors with two goals and two assists. The Tournament MVP was Halsall, who posted back to back shutouts and 11 saves in the Flames two victories over the weekend.
Lee will get right back to work on Tuesday as they host NAIA member Dalton State at 7 p.m. From there, the early season gauntlet continues, with a trip to Boca Raton, Fla. to square off with the defending NCAA D2 National Champs Lynn University next weekend.
“It’s not the smartest thing I’ve ever done, scheduling five games in nine days, so we are going to have to come ready to play on Tuesday,” said Furey. “Dalton State is better than most first year programs. We are excited about heading down to Florida to play Lynn but our focus is on Tuesday.”