The Lee University lacrosse team’s season came to an end in the semifinals of the Gulf South Conference Championship on Friday afternoon. The Lady Flames fell to Flagler College by a final score of 19-8. Lee finished the season with a 5-12 record. Flagler will now take on the winner of Lander University and the University of Alabama in Huntsville on Sunday in the championship game.
Flagler had pressure from the start. They jumped out and scored three goals in the first five minutes to set the pace.
They continued the pressure and held Lee scoreless in the first 15 minutes. The Saints found the back of the net five more times to lead 15-0 after one period of play.
The Lady Flames regroup and scored twice in the second quarter. Katelynn Sweeney scored the first goal and then Callie Curtis scored the second. Flagler did add four more goals and led it 12-2 at halftime.
The third quarter belonged to the Lady Flames as rain began to fall. They outscored the Saints 5-3 to climb back into the contest. The Saints scored the first two goals, and then Lee scored five straight to make it 14-7. Noelle Harrington scored back-to-back with both goals coming on assists from Hannah Vecsey. Vecsey then got her first goal of the game on an unassisted goal. Lily Tomczik and Makenna Luzier each had a goal in the third.
Flagler outscored Lee 4-1 in the final 15 minutes with the only goal for Lee coming from Hannah Vecsey.
Sydney Onega had five goals to lead the Saints. Carley Tepel added four while Jessica Wright had three. Onega and Wright each had three assists.
Vecsey had two goals and two assists for four points. She also crossed the 100 career goals mark in her final game as a Lady Flame. Harrington had two goals as well while Taylor McGovern had two assists.
Savannah Weisman made ten saves in goal for Lee while facing 41 shots. The Lady Flames only managed 17 shots on goal. Flagler forced Lee to 20 turnovers and held a 31-15 advantage in ground balls.
Neither team managed to convert a free position shot in the contest and the Saints had nine fouls to just three for Lee. Flagler had four cards in the match while Lee had six.
Coach Megan Smith’s Thoughts:
“Super proud of this team. We got down big early and then at halftime we just talked about composure. We had too many small mistakes they were taking advantage of and after that we were toe-for-toe with them. We celebrated our seniors last night but we also looked at how many freshman played and scored their first goals this season. Super excited to see them develop and come back even stronger next season."