The sun was shining brightly on the Ray Conn Sports Complex on Sunday afternoon, and it produced a heated Gulf South Conference battle between the host Lee club and visiting Montevallo. The Falcons and the Lady Flames each came in with a pair of draws on their worksheets and it was no surprise when the 90-minutes ended in a 0-0 deadlock.
The draw leaves the unbeaten Lady Flames with a 5-0-3 overall mark and 3-0-1 against conference competition. The Falcons stand at 5-1-2, 2-0-2. The competition will not get any easier for Coach Chris Hennessey’s Lee squad next Friday and Sunday when they travel to Spring Hill (Mobile, Ala.) and then onto face unbeaten West Florida.
The Lady Flames had 13 shots and placed four on goal while holding the Falcons to only four shots the entire afternoon and allowing two on goal.
In the first half, Julia Lopes had a shot on goal at the 8:20 mark that was saved by Montevallokeeper Emily Hounsell. Lopes came back with one more shot in the 16thminute and it was saved again by Hounsell.
The Falcons also had one shot on goal in the first half. Kaeri Ward had a shot saved by Lee keeper Abby Whitcomb in the 40th minute and Morgan Goehring countered with the only other shot on goal in the 48thminute that was also saved by Whitcomb.
In the second half, Alaysia Nye tried to put the Lady Flames on the board in the 65th minute but again Falcon goalkeeper Hounsell was there for the save. Less than four minutes later, Lee had another opportunity to put a score on the board. Lopes fired a shot at the bottom left of the net, but Hounsell picked up her fourth and final save of the afternoon.
Another strong Lee defensive effort was led by Ashley Eulo, Kate Wilson, Avery Sides, Hailey Johnson, Kate Dirkse and Jordan Blair. Coach Hennessey called on four reserves to earn playing time in the heated afternoon. Ruth Edringtonplayed 36 minutes, Sydnee Duncan logged 24 and Amelya Jacobs came in for 21.
The Lady Flames were not able to counter with five corner kicks while the Falcons were awarded two. Montevallo was called for 14 fouls and Lee 11. The Lady Flames were issued a pair of yellow cards.
Coach Chris Hennessey's Thoughts:
"We started slow and finished the slightly better team at the break. In the second half, we created several great chances and could not convert. The forwards have to do better in the situations. It is those little moments that can change a game."
"Our defense worked very hard today. Their execution was very good. I was pleased overall, a little disappointed we had chances we didn't convert. A huge plus was getting the clean sheet. Now we get ready to go on the road to Spring Hill.