Clicking on all cylinders, the Lee women's soccer team celebrated Senior Night with a resounding 5-0 victory over visiting Valdosta State. The win sealed third place in the GSC standings and assured the Lady Flames of hosting the first round of tournament play on Tuesday evening at 5 p.m. on the Lee Soccer Field.
"It was a great way to end the regular season. I have a lot of respect for Stephen (Andrew) and the job he is doing as head coach at Valdosta," commented head coach Chris Hennessey after his team improved to 12-5-1 overall and more importantly 9-4 in the GSC. "Tonight I felt the girls were focused from the first second and they came out with a real purpose."
Four seniors, Lauren Peters, Mia Hollingsworth, Kate Carney and Anna Leslie, were honored before the action started on Saturday evening. A pair of the seniors did not take long before hooking up for the first goal. Working from the left wing, Hollingsworth got an assist from Peters and slipped her shot over the head of the Blazer keeper. It came just seven minutes deep into the contest and was her 12
th goal of the year.
"Senior Night is always difficult," explained Hennessey. "It's emotional and there are a lot of distractions. However, I thought the seniors as well as the rest of the team handled it very well. Now we have to recover and get ready for another battle with West Georgia on Tuesday." It was just last Thursday that the Lady Flames defeated the Wolves in a hard-fought battle, 2-1.
Sophomore Kelsey Yoder, who has made a habit of nailing penalty kicks, stepped up at the 17:51 mark and drilled her ninth goal of the year. The margin reached 3-0 (27:56) when Peters collected her fifth goal of the season. Junior Riley Engels got the assist when she delivered a corner kick which Peters headed into the back of the net.
The Lady Flames added more damage 17-minutes deep into the second stanza. Yoder collected her 10
th goal of the year when she slipped her shot past the Valdosta keeper from the top of the 18. Freshman Avery Engels and junior Devin Healy hooked up for the final Lee goal. It was Avery's second goal of the season and was assisted by Healy.
Coach Hennessey praised the play of his back line. Led by keeper Taylor Green, Lee has registered five straight victories and posted shutouts in four of their last five games. Green walked away with another clean sheet and had six saves in gaining the victory. The Lady Flames fired 17 shots and again were accurate with 10 on target. The Blazers had 13 shots and six were on goal.
