The Lady Flames celebrate after Kelsey Yoder's game-winning goal.
The coldest afternoon in many Lee University women’s soccer games turned into a winner for the Lady Flames Tuesday afternoon on the Lee Soccer Field. With the wind blowing 15 mph at times and the chill factor in the teens, the Lady Flames and Blazers fought for 108.51 minutes and through two overtime periods.
Lee scored the winning goal off the foot of junior midfielder Kelsey Yoder in the second extra period and gave the Lady Flames a 1-0 victory over Valdosta State in the quarterfinal round of the GSC Championship.
It was Yoder’s second goal of the year.
The winning shot sailed into the back of the net after an excellent pass from sophomore Lauren Weimer. It was her second assist of the year.
The victory avenged an earlier 2-0 loss to the Blazers on Nov. 7. The Lady Flames earned the right to advance to the semifinals of the GSC Championship. They will be pitted against top-seeded Mississippi College on Nov. 15 in Pensacola, Florida. The starting time has yet to be announced.
“Overall, given how tough the conditions were, it was a very good win for our girls,” said Lee head coach Chris Hennessey who coached his team to their 15th win of the year against just four defeats. Valdosta slipped to 11-7. “First of all, I want to congratulate (VSU) Coach (Stephen) Andrew. I felt their level of play in today’s game and the way we tried to play under these conditions was a credit to both teams.”
Coach Hennessey took time to describe the winning play. “Lauren received the ball into a wide area of the field and delivered a great pass into the box to Kelsey, who finished the game winner.”
The Lady Flames welcomed back red-shirt senior keeper Taylor Green, who had missed a couple of games after being injured against Alabama Huntsville. The Blazers had eight shots against Lee’s tough defense and put five on frame – all turned away by Green. Lee took 23 shots and 11 were on target before the 12th shot found pay-dirt. Green improved her record to 15-4 overall while Blazer keeper Caroline Embler registered 11 saves to keep her club’s hopes alive.
“We had a couple of players back from injuries and Taylor made a crucial save to keep our victory hopes alive,” explained Hennessey. “Now we have a big task ahead of us in Mississippi College. I think if we apply ourselves like we should it will be a very competitive game. Right now we are not concerned about the region rankings, but our focus is on the GSC Championship and one game at a time.”