The No. 17 Lee University women’s soccer team continued its pursuit of the Gulf South Conference (GSC) regular season championship with a 1-0 defeat of West Alabama Sunday afternoon at the Lee Soccer Field.
The Lady Flames (12-4, 11-2 GSC) moved back into a tie with Mississippi College at the top of the standings, although Lee holds the head-to-head tie-breaker and would receive the No. 1 seed in the upcoming GSC Tournament in case of a tie. North Alabama remains two points behind in third place.
All three teams play their final GSC match of the regular season on Thurs., Oct. 26. Lee hosts Shorter University, Mississippi College hosts Delta State and UNA travels to West Georgia.
“The main thing is that we got the win today,” said Lee head coach Chris Hennessey. “Sundays are tough. I think we played very well in the first half and, obviously, had tired legs in the second half.”
Freshman Isabelle Berthoud supplied the lone goal of the game with a little under four minutes left in the first half. Berthoud took advantage of a loose ball inside the penalty area and fired a quick shot to the far left post from 10 yards out.
Lee snapped the five-match winning streak of West Alabama (8-7, 7-6 GSC) and extended their own win streak to five, including shutouts in the last four.
The Lady Flames ripped off 29 shots and placed 13 on goal, the Tigers put two of their three shots on frame. Taylor Green tallied two saves to record her fifth blank sheet of the season and improve to 6-0 in goal. Jenni Aarniva collected 12 saves in the loss.
“We struggled sometimes to make the right decisions at the right moments, but I’m pleased,” added Hennessey. “We’re going to battle with all we got. One last game in the conference, against Shorter, so we need to make sure we’re focused for that, try and get that win and get ready for the playoffs.”