In what has been a season chalked full of "firsts" the Lee lacrosse team added another milestone victory on Saturday afternoon in winning its first Gulf South Conference game in program history with a 20-11 drubbing of rival Shorter on Saturday afternoon.
"The girls did well today. This has been a very exciting season so far. To get our first conference win today was awesome," said an excited second-year head coach Addie Wadley after the match.
The Lady Flames improved to 6-4 overall and 1-3 in the GSC thanks to four goals apiece by Emma Hill and Becca Broadwick.
Madeline Perrigo had the only other hat trick for coach Addie Wadley's squad. Brianne Schapira, Kaylyn Dillon, and Hannah Rotello all scored multiple goals. Rachel Duda, Abbie Mercuri, and Emily Osborne rounded out the scoring.
Lee fired out to a 2-0 lead with goals from Dillon and Broadwick just 30 seconds apart from each other to jump start the offensive effort.
Shorter (0-4, 0-3 GSC) responded and took a 3-2 lead with goals from McKinley Puckett, Tiffany Kongpachith, and Maria Hansen.
The two squads traded goals back and forth before the Lady Flames went on an 11-0 run to seize control of the game. The dominating stretch started with a goal from Rotello on an assist by Hill to tie the game at four with 19:24 left in the half.
Hill capped the first half of action as she scored with 13 seconds left to give the Lady Flames a 13-4 lead into the locker room. Lee took the run into the second half and scored the 11th goal with 29:01 left in the game from Perrigo to push the lead to 14-4.
"We struggled a bit finding our rhythm early in the first half, but once we got some of the jitters out we were able to slow things down and control the pace of the game on both sides of the field. Our attackers did a great job stopping the ball before it got back to our defensive end which helped keep our midfielders fresh and our defense energized," said Wadley. "We came in to the second half a little bit too comfortable, but we're still able to maintain a good lead. I feel like they did a great job working together today. Everyone contributed well and they all have a lot to be proud of today," continued Wadley.
Dillon would tally the final goal of the game with 40 seconds left to make the final score 20-11.
"Over the past few games I have been able to connect more and more with my teammates and today we worked extremely well together as a unit," said Hill on her performance of nine goals over the past two games.
The Hawks were led by Puckett with four goals. Kongpachith scored three goals, while Aubrey Geiger added two goals. Allie Perry, and Hansen rounded out the Shorter scoring with one each.
Abby Sanders got the start in goal and allowed four goals and saved three to get credit for the win. Christa Hill came in the second half and recorded three saves, while allowing seven goals.
Lee will be back in action on Wednesday Mar. 21 as they look to avenge an earlier season loss to Montevallo at the South Quad Field at 4 p.m.
"We are looking forward to our rematch with Montevallo at home on Wednesday," said Wadley of the rematch.
The Lady Flames then hit the road again for a short one game road trip to West Virginia to take on the University of Charleston on Mar. 24 at 12 p.m.