The surging Lee women's soccer team grabbed a share of first place in the Gulf South Conference standings with a well-played 3-1 win over visiting West Alabama on Friday afternoon.

The Lady Flames 5-1 in GSC play and 6-3-2 overall, captured their fifth straight victory and at the same time handed the Tigers from Livingston, Ala. (5-1, 7-3) their first conference defeat. North Alabama also holds a 5-1 league mark going into a Sunday afternoon battle at West Florida.

Lee dominated play in the opening 45 minutes and took what appeared to be a commanding 2-0 advantage. Nicole Blanchard picked up a loose ball and lopped it over the goalkeeper's out-stretched arms from some 25 yards out. The goal came in the 18th minute. The margin quickly grew to 2-0 when Summer Lanter scored off a corner kick. Laura Thacker delivered the corner. McKenzie Bricker directed the ball to Lanter who tallied her fifth goal of the season. Thacker and Bricker were credited with double assists. The Lady Flames outshot the visitors 9-4 in the first half.

"After the first 10 minutes I thought we really picked it up and played well the rest of the first half," said coach Chris Hennessey. Of course we had to make things interesting and gave up a goal in the second half. Our defense play well the entire afternoon."

West Alabama would not surrender without a fight. The Tigers came charging back in the second half and Kristen Reilly collected her fifth goal of the year off a direct kick from 25 yards out. It was a 2-1 game after the score came at the 56:38 mark. For a brief period West Alabama kept the contest in suspense before Lee knocked in a deciding goal in the 80th minute.

On the prettiest play of the afternoon, freshman Marissa Villafuerte controlled the ball on the right side on the pitch. She fired the ball into Lauren Peters, who was lined up just inside the box. Peters whirled, and at the same time moved the ball to her left foot, and tucked her shot into the right side of the net for her first goal of the season. "That goal made us feel a lot better," the coach added. "It was the type of game we expected, but our girls hung in there."

The defensive battle saw the Lady Flames outshoot the Wolves 15-6. Lee had six shots on target and West Alabama managed just three. Haley Gridler had two saves and picked up the win. Issy Foster was the losing keeper. She was credited with three saves. The Lady Flames had six corner kicks to five for the losers.

Lee will have very little time to recover from the hard fought win. They will host Alabama Huntsville in a Sunday afternoon affair slated for a 2 p.m. kickoff.