In fitting fashion it was senior Jake Molony who made the difference for the Lee men’s soccer team as it wrapped up the regular season with a 1-0 victory at Tusculum on Wednesday night.
Molony headed home the lone goal of the match in the 18th minute as he perfectly timed his lunge forward and drilled the ball into the back of the net for his first score of the season. The ball ricocheted to Molony off a blistering strike from Jared McWhorter, who was credited with the assist.
The goalkeeping duo of Tristen Putnam and Daniel Hrenko made the lead stick as they combined to keep the clean sheet.
Putnam was credited with two saves in 60 minutes of work while Hrenko played the role of a baseball closer and finished off the final 30 minutes and withstood a furious rally by the Pioneers to earn five saves.
“I'm proud of the guys tonight for sure. It wasn't our best performance but it was a necessary performance and a lot of teams would have caved in after the weekend that we had,” said head coach Derek Potteiger. “But the guys came out and battled for 90 minutes and actually had to hang on to a close one late and so it felt good to hang onto that one.”
The Flames close out the season at 6-6-4 overall in the first year of the Potteiger Era. Lee rebounded from a heartbreaking loss to No. 20 West Alabama in double overtime on Sunday to post the non-conference road victory.
Tusculum falls to 2-7-6 on the season. Ivan AA Afranic patrolled net for the Pioneers and tallied three saves.
Lee out shot Tusculum 14-12 but the home team did hold a 7-4 advantage in the shot on target.
“This was a good season, one that could have looked a little different if we finished off some games, but these are lessons we will learn from and will be right back at it preparing for next year,” concluded Potteiger.
The Flames end the regular season at 6-6-4 and will need West Florida to lose twice or lose and tie its final two matches in order to secure the sixth and final spot in the Gulf South Conference Tournament beginning on Oct. 31.
West Florida will take on a struggling Auburn Montgomery club on Thursday before testing Montevallo on Saturday.