Senior Ellie Crisler with the ball.
Senior Ellie Crisler, the GSC Player of the Week, scored four goals and contributed an assist in leading the Lee women’s soccer team to a 9-0 victory over visiting Emmanuel College at the Ray Conn Sports Complex on Thursday evening. The Lady Flames improved to 2-0-1 on the year and pushed their unbeaten mark over the last two seasons to 21-0-2.
“It was a really balanced performance tonight. We obviously were very efficient offensively and distributed the ball well throughout,” remarked Coach Chris Hennessey.
“Ellie got us going in the first half and I was excited to see Grace (Berry) and Alaysia (Nye) get their first collegiate goals. This is a team with great depth, and I liked our mindset of relentless attacking tonight.”
Crisler’s first of three straight goals came at the 18:31 mark in the first half. It was assisted by Berry. Some three minutes later, Crisler scored again (21:13) and the assist came from Jordan Blair. The final goal of the half came from Crisler (29:36) and this time Ruth Edrington dished off the assist.
Berry went to work and scored the first two goals of her Lee career early in the second half. The first was unassisted and came at the 50:08 mark. The second came four minutes later (54:49) as a result of a double assist from Crisler and Lauren Weimer.
Kate Dirkse stepped up and nailed a penalty kick (58:24). Crisler connected for her fourth goal of the evening (61:05) and her sixth goal of the season. Avery Engels assisted. At the 78:09 mark Tatum Miller tallied an unassisted goal and Nye stepped up with less than seven minutes remaining in the contest (83:34) to score her first college goal.
Weimer collected her second assist of the game. The Lee defense held the Lions to only six shots but five were on goal. Goalkeeper Josie Taylor had two saves in 45 minutes of action and Haleigh Howard posted three saves in 35 minutes of playing time.
The nine goals were the most in an game in the NCAA era for the Lady Flames. The four goals by Crisler are also the most in a game in the NCAA era for Lee University.
The Lady Flames will get ready to take a trip up the mountain and face North Georgia on Sunday at 6 p.m. The Nighthawks are 2-1 on the year. “Sunday we will face a challenge at North Georgia, so we will need to rest up and get back to work in practice. If we get this same type of effort throughout the season we will be in good shape,” concluded Coach Hennessey.