Propelled by four second half goals the No. 23 Lee men’s soccer team rolled past Gulf South Conference frontrunners’ Alabama-Huntsville, 5-1 on a picture perfect fall day at the Lee Soccer Field.
The Flames fell behind early when Jordan Wright connected on a header off a corner kick from Hermann Bjoornsson in the 26th minute.
Lee responded right near the end of the first half as David Perez scored on a one-on-on with the Huntsville keeper. Arturo Rocha set up the score and was credited with the assist.
Following the intermission the Flames came out firing on all cylinders led by Quade Marinell’s goal just 50 seconds into the second period. Marinell struck a bullet past the keeper into the far corner to put Lee up for good at 2-1.
“Well they are a very good and outplayed us in the first half. Very good technical players, knew it was going to be a challenge,” said head coach Paul Furey. “The goal at the end of half gave us some momentum but what really got us going was Quade’s great goal to start the second half.”
Travis Kiger followed in the 53rd as he hammered home a rebound off of Marinell’s shot that hit off the post. Jay Luzardo would follow with his first goal of the season at the 65:45 mark as Marinell provided his second assist of the match.
The scoring would conclude when Perez chipped it over goalies head for his team-leading 11th goal of the season.
“We got a little a bit of revenge for Friday night’s draw and really played well in the second half,” said Perez.
When asked about his ability to find the right spot to score goals Perez said, “I just need to move and I know my teammates are going to find me. It’s a credit to my teammates and they do a great job of getting me the ball.”
Lee tallied 11 shots as a team and placed seven of frame. The Chargers recorded 12 shots and had three on goal. UAH had five corner kicks while the Flames had three.
Lee goalkeeper senior Tom Halsall had a pair of saves in earning his eight victory manning the net for the Flames. Michael Winstone had two saves for the Chargers.
“This the fourth or fifth match that we’ve conceded the first goal. It shows the resiliency of this team to bounce back and respond. We’ve done that three times already on the road. We’ll hope to keep this going”
The Flames improve to 8-2-2 on the year they are 3-0-1 in conference play. Alabama-Huntsville falls to 7-4 overall and suffers its first conference set back, moving to 5-1 in league play.
Lee will head on the road next week to test Delta State on Friday from Cleveland, Miss. The Flames will stay in the Magnolia state to battle Mississippi College on Sunday afternoon.