KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Three hundred sixty-four days ago, coach Paul Furey and his Flames were denied their first NCCAA national championship when they lost a heart-breaking decision to Southern Wesleyan University in the tournament final.

After waiting an entire year and gaining an at large berth for this year's NCCAA National Championship at the same Austin-Tindall Soccer Complex, the Lee Flames were able to celebrate the soccer national title by coming from behind in the second half and defeating Bethel College (Ind.) 2-1.

"Our guys can really take pride in doing something special and I think they will remember this for a long time," said coach Paul Furey after the championship victory. "The competition was very good and we had to work hard in each of the matches.

"We really played a very solid first half today, controlling the flow of the game for the most part of it," he added. "But we still were down 1-0 at the half which could have been discouraging, yet once again we showed great resilience and David Perez showed why he was the most valuable player of the tournament after Robbie (Cutchin) got the equalizer."

Bethel went on top 1-0 in the extremely physical contest when Ricardo Carvalho scored on an assist from Ricardo Zambonino in the 33^rd minute.

Time and again the Pilots, also a tournament at large club, turned away point-blank shots by the Flames. Lee finally broke the scoring ice in the 64^th minute when Robbie Cutchin scored on an assist from Quade Marinell. 

Two minutes later, in the 66^th minute, David Perez struck again on an unassisted goal to give the Flames all they needed to secure the sweet victory. It was Perez' 10^th goal of the year and he was later named the tournament's most valuable player. His teammate Marinell was the tournament's top offensive player and they were joined on the all-tournament team by goalkeeper Joey Hinshaw and defender Jonathan Finlay.

The Pilots outshot the Flames 14-13 in the evenly played contest. However, Lee had eight shots on goal and limited Bethel to only six. Hinshaw had three saves in the victory and Bethel's Justin Brown recorded four. He came on in place of the Pilots starting keeper who went out with a head injury in the first half.

"It was a storybook ending for Joey in goal as he wrapped up his playing career at Lee," said Furey. "I'm not sure you could have had a better finish to your college career after having just had your first start nine games ago," noted Furey. "It was a very proud moment as a coach and a father to see Justin (Furey) playing his final game and walking off the field as a champion. After the game he was the first one I looked for to give big hug,

"Obviously you don't win a championship without it being a total team effort and I feel like so many of our guys contributed to helping us make it happen. Our back line was solid and John (Findlay) had a special tournament. Up top Quade was just very difficult to contain. He did so much for us and created things. He was definitely a key to our success.

"What a thrill to win a national championship and then to share the same experience with our women's team during the same day," the veteran coach concluded.