Freshman Avery Engels scored her second goal of the season but it turned into the biggest of her young career in Lee’s 2-1 double overtime victory (108:30) over Rollins College on Friday afternoon at the University of West Florida Complex.
The win moves the Lady Flames into the semifinals of the NCAA D2 South Region Tournament. They will face host and unbeaten West Florida (20-0) on Sunday at 2 p.m. Down in Miami, third-seeded Mississippi College won over Nova Southeastern 3-0 and will face second-seeded and host Barry (Fla.) on Sunday in the other South Region match.
Playing in windy conditions, sophomore Devin Healy put the Lady Flames on top in the early going (10:28) with her fifth goal of the season.
It was unassisted. Rollins came back to tie the contest at one at the 30:06 mark of the first half. The unassisted score was her seventh.
Lee improved to 14-6-1 and the Tars dropped to 9-4-5. Before Friday, the Lady Flames had never beaten Rollins and had battled the Tars to a 2-2 draw in the season opener on Aug. 30. Before falling to Montevallo in the GSC Tournament, the Lady Flames had run off six straight wins.
“Great win for the girls. It’s always extremely tough when we play Rollins,” said head coach Chris Hennessey after the big win. “We had to be solid defensively today and from the front to the back, I thought we were just that.”
“Playing in double overtime is not easy,” continued Hennessey. “But our desire and hunger was incredible. Now we have to recover and be ready to battle West Florida on Sunday,”
The Lady Flames out-shot Rollins 24-12 and 8-7 on shots on the crossbars. Both goalkeepers were outstanding. Lee’s Taylor Green picked up the victory with six saves over the entire 108 minutes of rugged action. The Tars Kelly Rowswell kept her team in the contest with six saves. The Lee attack was paced by Mia Hollingsworth who fired six shots with two on goal. Kate Carney had four attempts and two on frame while Lauren Peters also attempted four shots.