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MOBILE, Ala. – Thanks to the head of senior captain Gabe Franco the Lee men's soccer team moved to 2-0 in the Gulf South Conference with a 2-1 victory over Spring Hill College on Sunday afternoon.

Franco scored his first goal of the season in the 70th minute to put the Flames ahead for good as he connected on a header set up from Drew Jackson's cross. "Gabe has been a terrific leader for us and today he got the game winner," praised coach Paul Furey. "A great cross by Drew set it up. Drew is really playing well for us now."

All three goals were tallied in the second half as the two clubs battled to 0-0 tie in the first 45 minutes. Junior David Perez continued his sizzling start as he scored his team-leading 9th goal of the season at the 49:37 mark to give the Flames a 1-0 advantage. Jon Finlay was credited with the assist.

"Finlay had a great weekend and set up DP (Perez) beautifully," noted Furey. "DP made a great run and had a terrific finish."

The Badgers evened things up at 1-1 when Andrew McInnis registered a put back goal in the 69th minute.

The Flames outshot the Badgers 12-9. Lee placed seven of those shots on target while Spring Hill had five shots on goal. 

Tom Halsall recorded four saves and earned his seventh victory of the season in goal for Lee.   Will Carpenter manned the net for the home team and allowed two goals while recording five saves.
 
Lee improves to 7-2-1 on the year and are a perfect 2-0 in conference play with wins over No. 15 West Florida on Friday and Spring Hill today. The loss drops the Alabama club to 2-7 overall and 0-4 in the GSC.

"Every road game in the conference is tough," added Furey. "We didn't look too sharp in the first 45 minutes but played a lot more like our game in the second half."

The Flames will return home on Friday to host West Alabama at 7:00 p.m. Lee will welcome Alabama-Huntsville to town on Sunday for a 4:30 p.m. tilt.