PENSACOLA, Fla. – Mississippi College outscored the Lee women's soccer team 3-2 on penalty kicks and denied the Lady Flames an opportunity to play for the Gulf South Conference Tournament championship.
Lee and the Lady Choctaws battled to a scoreless tie after 110 minutes of rugged soccer action. In the penalty kick, the Lady Flames stepped up and made their first attempt. Mississippi College matched the effort and tied the PKs at 1-1. Lee's second and third attempts hit the crossbar and kicked away but the Choctaws also missed back-to-back attempts to leave the nail-bitter deadlocked at 1-1. Taylor Green put Lee back on top but the Lady Choctaws quickly matched the shot and it was tied again at two.
The Lady Flames missed their next attempt and Katie Taylor nailed her shot, allowing Mississippi College to advance and face host West Florida on Sunday. The Argos coasted to a 5-0 victory over West Alabama in an earlier Friday match.
After the first half that saw the Lady Flames struggle to get the offense going, Mississippi College, although being outshot 6-1 was very much in the contest. The second 45 minutes was a different story. Lee took what appeared to be total command but could never put the ball in the back of the net.
Final stats show the Lady Flames firing 24 shots and placing eight on target. The Lady Choctaws did not produce a shot on goal in the entire second half. In fact, it was eight saves by Mississippi College goalkeeper Andrea McDonald that allowed the match to reach the two overtimes and penalty kicks. Haley Gribler had a save for the Lady Flames.
In the second OT, Kinsey Cichowitz battled to help produce a victory for her club. Two of her shots hit the bar and kicked away, showing it just was not to be for the Lady Flames on this night.
"Proud is an understatement of how I feel about the girls this evening," said a deeply disappointed coach Chris Hennessey. "They pushed and pushed in the second half. We hit the bar, post, but unfortunately it never fell for us. As is with the game of soccer, sometimes the better team doesn't win."
Lee ranked fourth in the latest and final South Region poll will wait and see if their season will continue when NCAA Division II releases its pairings for the opening rounds of the national regional tournaments on Monday evening. The winner of the West Florida and Mississippi College final will receive an automatic berth in the tourney.
"Hopefully, we will get a shot in the regionals next weekend," said Hennessey. "I think our resume states we deserve an opportunity to continue our season."
