Kinsey Cichowitz's unassisted goal in the 48th minute gave the Lee women's soccer team a hard-earned 1-0 victory over visiting Mississippi College on Sunday afternoon in a Gulf South Conference contest.
Chichowitz chipped the shot over goalkeeper Melanie Hummert's head and into the corner of the net and gave the Lady Flames (8-4-1, 7-1-0) the only score they needed and the defense did the rest in the challenging assignment.
"Today's game was a very intense battle from start to finish,' said coach Matt Yelton. "We are battling injuries and tired legs at this point in the year, but we are consistently having someone step up and add something to the team. I'm proud of these girls and their efforts and especially of our performance today."
The statistics confirm the consistent play from both sides. Lee's defense gave up only eight shots to the Choctaws and only three were on goal. The Lady Flames keeper Marbel Egwuenu stepped up to collect three key saves. Lee had 14 shots and had eight on target but Hummert was able to collect seven saves.
"We weren't so great at times in the first half and we had to sort through our lineup as we have shuffled a few players around to deal with team members who are out with injuries," explained Yelton. "Every team is dealing with those problems at this point in the season and I thought we responded very well in the second half and put together a strong statement."
The Lee coach went on to praise the effort of his team's defense. "They are playing really well at the moment and we don't concede many goals, but we need to continue to create good chances going forward. We need to find the back of the net a bit more to relieve some of the pressure that comes with 1-0 games."
The remainder of Lee's GSC contests will played on the road before they return to the Lee Soccer Field to close out the regular season in a non-conference game against NAIA powerhouse Lindsey Wilson College.
"Overall we are doing some good things." added Yelton. "We just need to continue to battle and bring out the best for 90 minutes and see how the season turns out. With our last four conference games being on the road, we will have a real test to finish the GSC season. Hopefully, we can just dig in and with a great deal of effort have the results at the end of the year swing our way."
The Lady Flames' first of four road dates comes next Friday when they travel to Memphis to face a vastly improved Christian Brothers University squad. The kickoff is schedule for 6 p.m.
