From start to finish the Lee women's soccer team had everything clicking as it moved one step closer to its fifth national title with a 4-0 victory over Judson University
on Wednesday evening in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) National Tournament from the Austin Tindall Park.
The Lady Flames won pool B with the victory over Judson coupled with a 2-0 blanking of Roberts Wesleyan
on Monday.
Lee will advance to the semifinals
on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
"Tonight was one of those special performances that a team sometimes just simply creates all the right situations to have success and everything just seemed to go our way," said head coach Matt Yelton.
The Lady Flames wasted little time in striking first as Kinsey Cichowitz scored off a free kick from Michelle Spangler in the sixth minute. Yelton felt the opening score set the tone for the entire match, "the first goal we scored was one of the best goals any team of mine has ever scored and that goal just gave us a lift to go on and put in an outstanding performance after that."
Senior Kathryn Healy would extend the lead at the 36:21 mark as she scored from the left wing off an assist from Sam Pewitt. Just six minutes later it was Molly McLaughlin's turn to get in on the fun as she hammered home a goal from the top of the box to give the Lady Flames a commanding 3-0 advantage going into the halftime break.
"We had four players score goals and every player on our roster contributed to this win tonight, noted Yelton. "We are getting so many different players to step up and contribute to our team's success."
The icing on the cake came in the 76
th minute as senior Brianna Prugh scored her first goal of the year to finish off the shutout victory for Lee. Sarah Boyd was credited with the assist.
Despite the lopsided score Judson actually outshot the Lady Flames by a 16-15 margin. Lee made the most of its nine shots on goal converting four while the Eagles managed eight shots on frame but could not find the back of the net.
Marbel Egwuenu registered six saves in 81 minutes of work and combined with freshman Erin Olson who worked the final nine minutes and recorded two saves in posting the fifth consecutive shutout for the stingy Lee defense. Elosia Borreguero tallied five saves and allowed the four goals for the Eagles.
"We will find out who we play tonight but anybody that's left will be a good team and we will need to continue to perform at a high level to continue our season," concluded Yelton.
No. 1-seed Grace College won Pool A outscoring its opponents 7-0 in two matches. Both the Lady Flames and Grace will await the outcome of the Campbellsville and Houghton match
on Wednesday night. The four remaining clubs will be reseeded for semifinal action
on Saturday.