Oct. 20, 2004 was the last time the Lady Flames did not win a conference game. That streak is alive and well after a 4-0 defeat of the visiting Spring Hill Badgers.
The Lady Flames wasted little time in jumping ahead in their SSAC opener. Chloe Woody scored just two minutes into the contest. Ashley Aragona and Ode Fulutudilu provided the assist.
A few minutes later junior Leah Fortune put Lee up two early goals off a corner kick from Amy Cochran. Fortune was voted the conference Offensive Player of the Week last week.
Aragona extended the margin to three in the opening half on her third goal of the season. The Waxhax, N.C. native weaved in and out of the Badger defenders and struck it home. Danielle Ciabattone set the play in motion providing the assist.
Fortune struck again early in the second half off a corner kick from Debbie Rogers. The goal put the Lady Flames up by the final score of 4-0. The Chicago, Ill. native leads the team with four goals on the year.
Coach Matt Yelton commented on his team's success, "I was really pleased with how we came out to play tonight. We did a really good job in possession and created some really good scoring opportunities on the night. Some of the combination play that we were able to create was fantastic and it is something we have been looking to do in training on a consistent basis."
"I thought we scored some really good goals and with a little bit of luck could have added a few more, but all credit to Spring Hill in that they played extremely hard for 90 minutes." added Yelton.
The Lady Flames were solid on defense all night allowing Spring Hill just four shots, two of which were on goal. Senior goalkeeper Leah Wilson had one save in her 60 minutes of play. Elyse Cottrell worked 30 minutes in combining for the second shutout in as many games. Cottrell added one save of her own.
Coach Yelton spoke about the defensive play ,"We had a couple of injuries tonight but Dee (Danielle Ciabattone) and Debbie (Rogers) came on and did a really job of playing in the defensive role in midfield and showed how deep our team really is."
The Lee offensive was in attack mode the entire night recording 18 shots, eight of which were on frame. Badger goalkeeper, Maggie Dalessio registered three saves in allowing three first half goals. Abby Massengale was in goal in the second half, allowing one goal with one save.
Lee held a huge advantage in corner kicks. The Lady Flames had 15 corner kicks. Spring Hill did not record a corner kick in the match.
With the win the Lady Flames moved to 4-1 on the year and continued their amazing success in conference play. Lee has now won 71 straight conference matches, dating back to Oct. 20, 2004. They have an 86 game unbeaten streak in conference play which dates back to Sept. 13, 2003. The loss drops the Badgers to 3-4 on the season.
"We have a big match tomorrow with Mobile and we know that they will bring a very talented squad that has produced a lot of great results this season." remarked Coach Yelton. The Lady Rams defeated Breanu 2-1 in overtime on Friday night and are ranked No. 6. The game is slated for a 5 p.m. start.
