Showing why it has won four consecutive NAIA national titles, the Lee women's soccer withstood the pressure of a talented University of Mobile squad and walked away with a hard-earned 2-0 victory on Saturday afternoon at the Lee Soccer Field.
Senior defender Kim Conrad came up with a key stop and Leah Fortune put the Lady Flames on top to stay with a goal in the 14th minute of the first half. "I thought we got a very good performance from Leah and Kim," said coach Matt Yelton after the key SSAC victory. "They really stepped it up and played at an exceptionally high level tonight and held it together for our squad when we were under pressure."
With just a little under 25 minutes to go, and Lee up 1-0, Conrad preserved the lead after defender Clair Lanter's clearance attempt went off Mobile's Katie Compton. Compton collected the ball, beat a sprawled out Lee keeper Leah Wilson and had an open net. But Conrad raced into position on the goal line to turn the shot away.
"I was really proud of the effort that our players put into tonight's game," Yelton stressed. "It's tough to play with less than 24 hours rest, but we showed a lot of character and fight to get the result."
Fortune's scored off the top of the box after senior Amy Cochran delivered another one of her well-played passes. The tally remained at 1-0 until Laura Thacker scored in the 72nd minute on an assist from Ode Fulutudilu. The rugged defensive battle saw the Lee defense hold the visiting Ram to just eight shots and only two were on goal. The Lady Flames took 13 shots and placed six on target. Gillian McMahan had four saves for the losers and Wilson collected one for the Lady Flames.
"I thought our defending was very good," said Yelton. "It is not often that you are able to shutout a team the quality of Mobile. We have now strung together a few shutouts and I think our defending is starting to get to the level that we have come to expect out of this senior group of players.
"We had several players step up big today and play in some roles they aren't accustomed to," he added, "but that is the mark of a good team in that we have players willing to do what is asked of them for the good of the team. We had a lot of players tonight that were great teammates."
Forward Ashley Aragona suffered an ankle injury and missed much of the action. "It doesn't look good.," said Yelton after the win. "Ashley was the MVP of the national tournament last year and we need to get her back as soon as possible.
The Lady Flames improved to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the SSAC. Mobile drops to 5-3-1 and 1-1 in league play. Things will not get any easier for Lee next weekend. They will travel to Mississippi on Friday and face William Carey, and then test Belhaven on Saturday.
