It will not go down in the Gulf South Conference (GSC) record books as an official championship for the Lee University women’s soccer team, but coach Matt Yelton, his staff and the Lady Flames will claim the title.
On a cool, windy afternoon at the Ben Brady Field, Kinsey Cichowitz knocked in a goal with some 15 minutes remaining to give the Lady Flames a hard fought 1-0 victory over the host Shorter University Hawks to close out the GSC season.
Nicole Blanchard collected the assist.
With the win Lee improves to a conference leading 10-1 and 11-4-1 overall. Currently Valdosta State also has only lost one conference affair, but Lee defeated VSU in head-to-head competition.
The victory was the seventh straight for the surging Lady Flames. They have posted shutouts in six of those seven wins and now own 12 shutouts on the year. The regular-season work is not complete. Lee will host NAIA power Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) on Monday at 7 p.m. before entering NCCAA tournament competition.
"From the start of pre-season we talked about defending well and that we needed to be very good defensively this year to have success,” remarked Yelton after the victory. “This team has been one of the best I've had with their defending and to only give up three goals (the entire season) in this league has been quite an achievement.
"Despite all of our injuries we actually played some of our best soccer of the season today,” he added. “We knocked the ball around really well at times and created a lot of good opportunities."
"Shorter is a good team that works hard to the final whistle. We are happy to see them make the playoffs, they've been a tough team to beat all year and we are pleased to come away with a win today.
"Kinsey has been very good all year and to see her get the goal was a reward for her work,” noted Yelton. “Kaela (Leskovar) and Kate (Cloud) also put in a good performance in midfield.
"(Senior) Rachel Cox made her first start of the year and played very well. We were really pleased to see her step up,” he pointed out. Lee goalkeeper Marbel Egwuenu had two saves in the win.
"Monday will be a big game but we will just have to see how we respond to the challenge of facing a long-time rival that is coming off a 6-1 win against the No. 1-ranked team in the NAIA," Yelton concluded.