Rachel Duda scored the decisive goal with 2:20 remaining to give the Lee women's lacrosse team a crucial 13-12 Gulf South Conference victory at Montevallo on Wednesday evening.
The Lady Flames and Falcons exchanged blows throughout the second half as Lee avenged a one-point loss to Montevallo earlier this season.
Duda, Emma Hill and Becca Broadwick all recorded hat tricks for the Lady Flames. Rachel Giles and Kaylyn Dillon rounded out the scoring with two goals each. Shayna Ryan helped set things up with two assists.
"This was a key GSC win for us tonight. It keeps us in the chase for the tournament," said head coach Derrel Martin. "Our team fights so very hard and they did again tonight."
The Lady Flames outshot the Falcons, 36-28 and picked 28 groundballs compared to 21 for Montevallo. Lee set itself up with 12 free-position shots won the turnover battle by a 26-20 margin.
Abby Sanders earned the win in net for the Lady Flames with eight saves. Irfana Ahmed had 13 saves in the loss for the Falcons.
"We won draws early and our offense moved the ball well and we were able to get a four goal lead on UM," added Martin.
The Lady Flames jumped out to a 4-1 advantage as Broadwick scored with 20:57 remaining the first half. After the Falcons responded with three straight goals to tie things up before Lee rattled off five straight goals to take a, 9-4 advantage early in the second half.
"We lost the lead when UM started winning the draw and beating us on the fast breaks. We made some changes at the draw and Becca Broadwick helped get the ball to Rachel Duda and Kaylyn Dillon. Late in the game Duda was able to sneak through and get our go-ahead goal," said Martin.
The Falcons would climb back into the game with a 4-0 to tie things up at 10 with 18:32 remaining in the contest. Over the final 11:32 the two evenly matched teams exchanged goals with Duda's sixth goal of the season the difference.
Meghan Shea led the Falcons with three goals. Anja Kuys, Jami Hudak and Sydny Dudley added two each.
The Lady Flames snap an eight game losing streak to improve to 4-8 overall and 1-4 in the GSC. The Falcons fall to 5-6 on the year and even 2-2 in league play.
Lee will step outside of conference to host Reinhardt College on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Lady Flames will play their final home match of the year next Wednesday as they welcome rival Shorter to town for a 6 p.m. opening draw.
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