Could this be the Lee women’s soccer team that the fans begin calling “late-game magic”? For the second straight match, the Lady Flames waited until the final minutes before scoring the winning goal and improving their record to 4-1-1 on the year and 1-0 in Gulf South Conference (GSC) play.
Wednesday evening, the Lady Flames scored with just over six minutes remaining in posting a thrilling 2-1 victory over No. 1-ranked Columbus State. On Sunday evening, coach Chris Hennessey’s team worked its magic again with only 3:69 remaining to take down GSC rival North Alabama, 1-0.
Junior Suzanne Arant gave Hennessey his first victory over his former teammate and Lion coach Chris Walker.
Arant got the winning goal on an assist from Katie Cloud who delivered a long through to set up the winner.
"I am happy for Suz tonight,” said Hennessey. “She is often an unsung hero for us and for her to get the game-winning goal is nothing less than she deserves.
“Tonight capped off a great week for us. It was always going to be difficult finding the energy and emotion after Wednesday's win, but the team battled hard and got the job done.
“Right now I can't praise the team enough,” added Hennessey. “There were certainly some heavy legs out there tonight, but like so often this year their work rate and character showed at the end. We now have a few days to recover from such a busy schedule.”
After out-shooting the visiting Lions 8-4 in the opening half and having a couple of shots just miss, North Alabama charged back in the second 45 minutes and out-shot Lee 10-6, but the Lady Flames’ defense was not about to give in. Lee had five shots on goal with at least one hitting the bar and NAU only posted three shots on net.
Lee’s defense was paced on the back line by Megan Newman and in goal by Haley Gribler, who recorded three saves and improved her record to 2-1-1 on the year. The midfield stood strong behind the play of Kaela Leskovar, McKenzie Bricker and Kinsey Cichowitz. Starters Morgan Standifer, Lauren Peters and Mia Hollingsworth also played their roles.
The Lady Flames will get a break until next Sunday afternoon when they journey down to Rome, Ga. and get ready for a kickoff against Shorter University at 1 p.m.