Mia Hollingsworth had scored 12 goals earlier this season, but her 13th turned out to be magical as Lee advanced in South Region play with a thrilling 1-0 overtime victory over University of West Florida on Sunday afternoon.
Hollingsworth’s goal came just over two-minutes deep into the overtime period (2:08). The senior was able to beat the Argo defender down the left side and drilled her shot over the head of the West Florida keeper and into the left corner of the net.
The Lady Flames avenged an Oct.
5th 1-0 loss to the Argos and improved to 15-6-1 overall. West Florida suffered its first defeat of the season after entering the contest with a perfect 20-0 mark. Lee advances to Round 3 of the South Region for the second straight year and GSC member Mississippi College will also be in the field after upsetting Barry (Fla.) earlier on Sunday. Columbus State (Ga.) has qualified while Carson-Newman and Lincoln Memorial are playing for the final berth later on Sunday evening.
“Our team left it all on the field today,” said an extremely pleased head coach Chris Hennessey after the victory. “I told them to go out and do something special, work hard and have fun. We stayed focused for every second of the game and it was a really big win for our seniors (Mia Hollingsworth, Taylor Green, Lauren Peters, Kate Carney). We will have a couple of days to relax before starting to get ready for Friday’s match.”
The Lady Flames came out of the gate attacking. Devin Healy, Hollingsworth, Peters (2) and Lauren Weimer fired shots on goal in the opening half only to have them saved by Argo’s outstanding keeper, Esthefanny Barreras. At the same time, Lee was allowing West Florida only a pair of shots on goal.
The Argos came out attacking in the second 45 minutes to only have Lee keeper Taylor Green turn back four shots on goal. For the game, the Lady Flames finished with 13 shots and placed seven on frame. West Florida bombed 16 shots and also had seven on target. Green totaled seven saves and Barreras had six. The Lady Flames were awarded only a pair of corner kicks but turned away eight by the Argos.