KISSIMMEE, Fla. - For the second straight year the Lee men's soccer team has reached the Final Four of the NCCAA National Championship that is being played at the same park (Austin-Tindall Soccer Complex) where the Flames lost in the championship final last season.

Quade Marinell used his outstanding speed to break away from the Southwestern Christian University (Okla.) defenders in the 74th minute and blasted his shot past Eagle goalkeeper Kyle Mickelburgh to give the Flames the exciting 3-2 victory.

Lee will be pitted against old rival Shorter University on Friday at 1 p.m. Shorter defeated the Flames 4-2 in a regular-season Gulf South Conference match on Oct. 31. Palm Beach Atlantic and Bethel College will square off in the other semifinal contest. The championship match is slated for Saturday at 3 p.m.

"We are thrilled to be back in the Final Four of this tournament," said Lee coach Paul Furey after the win. "We hope we can maybe take it a step further than we did one year ago. It is great that the pendulum has swung back a little bit in our way. We are playing now like we were earlier in the year. This was a hard-fought battle and our guys showed tremendous resilence in answering every time they equalized."

The Flames wasted no time in grabbing a 1-0 lead. David Perez scored his second goal of the match in the third minute on a header. Jonathan Finlay delivered a cross into the box and Perez converted.  The Eagles rallied back to make it a 1-1 game at the break when Adam Butler answered in the 40th minute. Butler's score also came off a header. Mathew Yeoman put his corner kick into the box and Butler finished.

"This has been a great venue for Quade (Marinell) and DP (Perez) as both have really come to life and have played tremendous for us just like they did here one year ago," pointed out Furey.

Lee got the break it was searching for in the 48th minute. The Flames were awarded a penalty kick and Adam Garrison stepped up to drive the ball home. Southwestern would not walk away without a fight and the Eagles tied the match in the 66th minute when Adam Kay tallied off a set piece into the box. Niall Ferguson got the assist.

Marinell ended the suspense with his goal and the Flames will take a 10-9-2 record into Friday's play. Southwestern's season ended at 13-7-2.

The Flames made the best of its 11 shots, placing seven between the bars. Eagle keepers Chris Muter and Mickelburgh shared time in the net and each had a pair of saves. Southwestern outshot the Flames (16-11) and managed seven on target. However, senior keeper Joey Hinshaw continued his fine play and was credited with the win after recording five saves.

Lee had eight corner kicks and Southwestern finished with six.