Junior Drew Jackson was the hero of the match scoring twice including the game winner with just 4.9 seconds remaining
The Lee men's soccer team delivered Head Coach Derek Potteiger his first Lee victory on a Drew Jackson buzzer-beating goal with just 4.9 seconds left on the clock to stun Anderson University, 3-2 on Sunday afternoon at the Lee Soccer Field.
Freshman Jared McWhorter set up the decisive score on a perfectly placed long ball off into the box and right to the feet of Jackson.
"I was exhausted but I was just trying to get myself in position in the center of field and Jared played a great ball to me and luckily I was able to finish it off," noted Jackson after the match.
"We are just really happy to give coach Potteiger his first win today."
Anderson's Oriol Gomez seemingly put the match on a collision course for overtime when he struck the ball from the top left of the box into the top corner of the goal just past the outstretched arms of Lee keeper Tristian Putnam at the 78:11 mark.
"I think we all realize that Anderson is a good team and we had some tired legs so we were just looking for moments to counter. We got some numbers forward in the final moments and we knew when we got it wide to Jared he's going to play a good ball in and Drew got on the end of it and did a great job finishing it," said Pottegier.
"I'm so proud of these guys. They were resilient and fought back to take the lead after giving up the early goal but to also be able to battle back and get the game winner after they tied it late is a tribute to our guys and their effort and energy today," concluded Potteiger.
Putnam tallied three saves to earn the victory in goal for the Flames while Aden Ardoin was tagged with the loss while posting one save for Anderson.
Lee made the most of its opportunities taking just eight shots but placing four on goal while the Trojans kept on the attack for most of the evening and tallied 16 shots but found the mark just on just five occasions.
The rugged contest featured seven yellow cards and 44 fouls. The Flames earned four corner kicks while the Trojans had six, including four set piece opportunities in the second half.
Josh Calabria wasted little time getting the Trojans going as he scored off a free kick from 30 yards out as the ball ricocheted off of a Lee defender's head and into the back of the net just two minutes into the contest.
Lee's Danny Johnston tied things at the 7:38 mark as he scored the Flames first goal of the season on a penalty kick after being tripped up in the box in the 8th minute.
Jackson scored the first of his two goals at the 11:16 mark as he slipped a shot past the keeper off a pass from junior Craig Quinn. The goal would stand for 67 minutes until Anderson tied things up in the 79th minute.
Anderson falls to 1-1-0 on the year after winning on Friday, 1-0 against Montevallo.
The Flames improve to 1-0-1 on the season and will head on the road next week for a pair of matches down in Florida. Lee tests Palm Beach Atlantic on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Daytona Beach before battling host Embry-Riddle on Saturday at 7 p.m.