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A furious comeback effort came up short for the Lee men's soccer team as it fell to Dalton State College, 2-1 on Tuesday night at the Lee Soccer Field.

After a scoreless first half, that yielded very few scoring chances on either side, the upstart Roadrunners struck first on a free kick from Ellis Roberts in the 49^th minute. Roberts knocked it home off the near post just outside of the outstretched hands of Lee keeper, Tom Halsall.

Halsall allowed his first goal of the season after 228 minutes of scoreless work. The senior recorded two saves in the contest and was voted Gulf South Conference Defender of the Week earlier on Tuesday.

Dalton State would add what would prove to be the winning goal at the 77:57 mark when Chedall Moore connected on a cross from Tyler Hudson.

Despite being down two scores, the Flames stayed on the attack for most of the second period, outshooting the Georgia club 14-6. The Flames placed six shots on target while Dalton State had four shots on goal. Lee earned nine corner kicks while not allowing Dalton State a single corner opportunity the entire match.

The Flames would finally breakthrough in the 86^th minute as Jake Molony served a ball into the box that Matt Brady connected with to cut the deficit to one. The Roadrunners would hold on for the final four minutes however, to secure the road victory.

Diego Gonzalez earned the win in goal with five saves while allowing the one goal. Dalton State now moves to 4-1-1 on the season. The Flames fall to 2-1.

"This was a tough one tonight, tough to swallow losing on our home turf," said head coach Paul Furey. "Tough to feel like you outplay a team and lose.  But mainly tough because they are a pretty good team. They marked us very tight and were tough to break down. If you look at corner kicks at 9 to 0 , you may know where the ball was but they defended well and were good on their counters. Congrats to Dalton.  We'll be ok. We'll be ready for this weekend. "

Furey and his club will travel to Boca Raton, Fla. over the weekend to participate in the Wyndham Deerfield Beach Soccer Classic hosted by Lynn University. Lee will battle Palm Beach Atlantic on Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. before testing the defending national champion Lynn squad on Saturday at 7 p.m.