PENSACOLA, Florida – It was a battle for the entire 90 minutes, but the Lee University women's soccer team remained undefeated (18-0, 14-0 GSC) by defeating rival West Florida for the second time this season 1-0 on Thursday night in the semifinal round of the Gulf South Conference Championship played at the Ashton Brosnaham Park.
The Lady Flames advanced to the championship round to be played on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. and will face West Georgia. The Wolves defeated West Alabama in penalty kicks 3-1 after regulation play and two overtimes ended with the score deadlocked at 1-1.
Through over 73 minutes the Lady Flames and Argonauts were deadlocked in a scoreless battle. Finally, in the 74
th minute (74:42) Lauren Weimer ripped her shot into
the lower left corner of the net on an assist from Kate Dirkse to give Lee the only score they needed. Katie Wilson, Anna Lanter, Riley Henry and Kelsey Yoder fired Lee's only other shots on goal that were blocked by West Florida keeper Charline Favier.
"It was a really great team win. Weimer has a knack for being in the right place at the right time and she stepped up big for us tonight," said an extremely pleased Coach Chris Hennessey. "Jackie (Burns) made some big saves for us, and we were able to battle it out.
"I was proud of what we accomplished in the regular season, but the postseason is a totally different animal, and we have to bring our best each and every match. West Georgia always presents a tough challenge, and we look forward to a great championship match on Saturday," Hennessey concluded.
On this night it was the Lee defense stepping up again along with the outstanding keeper play of Burns that helped preserve the victory. The determined Argonauts fired a season-high 12 shots on goal at Lee and Burns came away with 11 saves. The Lee defense blocked West Florida's other shot. At the same time Lee's defense constantly had to push the determined Argos back up the pitch.
The rugged battle saw Lee awarded eight corner kicks to five for West Florida. The Lady Flames were called for 12 fouls and the Argonauts 10. With the final seconds ticking away, play became somewhat heated. It was only the third loss of the year for West Florida (12-3-2, 7-2-2).
