Lee coach Chris Hennessey praised the efforts of his defenders, midfielders and forwards in a hard-fought 3-2 victory over host University of Montevallo on Sunday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the Gulf South Conference tournament.
The Lady Flames earned the right to face an old rival in West Florida on Nov. 4 in the semifinal round of the tournament which will be held at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Ala. “Somehow we always seem to find a way to end up playing the Argonauts,” said Hennessey after Sunday’s rugged win.
In Friday’s other semifinal contests Mississippi College will be pitted against West Alabama.
Coach Hennessey and his ladies will also be keeping an eye on the regional rankings the next couple of weeks in hopes of landing a berth in the upcoming regional tournament.
The Lady Flames improved to 10-2-5 on the year while the Falcons suffered only their third loss of the season. Sunday’s contest was played on a wet, slippery field but Coach Hennessey said his team executed the game plan extremely well. “I’m really proud of the way our girls performed today,” he noted. “It was an extremely physical contest.” A total of 29 fouls were whistled, 18 against the Lady Flames and 11 against Montevallo.
Lee jumped on top in the 14th minute on a goal by Tatum Miller. She was assisted by freshman Juliana Lopes. Montevallo bounced back to tie the game in the 38th minute when Alea Tau tallied on Avery Campbell’s assist. The Lady Flames could not be denied and took a 2-1 lead into the halftime break when sophomore Kassidy Kellett ripped her shot into the low right corner of the goal and was assisted by Ellie Crisler.
Miller came up with what appeared to give Lee a commanding 3-1 lead at the 59:48 mark of the second half. The Falcons refused to go away and battled back to cut the margin to 3-2 when Melanie Stevens drilled her shot home in the 71st minute. The assist came from Tori Ochoa. The Lady Flames had to turn back the battling Montevallo team the final 15 minutes of the contest.
Overall, the Lady Flames outshot the Falcons 17-10 and had an 8-3 edge on shots on goal. Lee goalkeeper Josie Taylor had one save. Montevallo keeper Jolie Cazale had five saves. The Falcons were awarded five corner kicks and Lee two.