The coronavirus has affected athletic teams on all levels during the past year and Lee men's soccer was hit hard when NCAA, DII and the Gulf South Conference cancelled the 2020 fall season. While several conferences did not move play to the spring, the GSC decided to play games in the spring and will hold a conference championship, but the NCAA will not have a national championship format.
 
Coach Derek Potteiger begins his fourth year directing the Lee men's soccer program. His 2019 team placed fourth in the Gulf South Conference regular-season standings. The Flames defeated top-seeded Mississippi College in the semi-final round of the GSC Tournament and then went on to whip rival West Florida 1-0 to earn their first-ever GSC Tournament Championship.
 
The Flames made their first trip to the NCAA DII National Tournament and fell to Queens University (Charlotte, N.C.) in the opening round after two overtimes and a 5-4 loss in penalty kicks. The 2019 club finished 12-4-5 and became the first team to post 12 wins since moving to DII.

After three seasons Potteiger's Flames hold a 27-17-12 mark and the team has become a highly respected team in GSC and DII play. Jared McWhorter was named the GSC Offensive Player of the Year. He was also voted to the United Soccer Coaches All-South Region Second Team and was joined by Jonah Bryan on the select squad.
 
Special group: "It was a special group in 2019 and we did lose a number of players that played key roles for the team," said Potteiger. "I do think we were able to use that momentum to bring in players to hopefully replace them, but we could be starting as many as eight new faces when our first game kicks off on Feb 13. (against West Alabama)" 
 
Viewing overall picture: Potteiger noted, "McWhorter and Sagi Rada were both top performers for us in 2019 but they are both coming off surgeries and we do not want to force a return to action too soon. Both will probably miss the spring season but will be back in action fall (2021).  Eemeli Makela is our field general and had a very good sophomore season in 2019.  He has continued to grow in quality and leadership and will be important for us the next couple of years. We return Yotam Balbul and Caden Corrao, both returning CB's that played important roles in 2019.  A few younger players have developed as well and we are hoping for good things from Collin Lewis, Caio Arantes, and Samir Eldahan."
 
The Flames have added some transfers to the group as well that are a bit older and have some top-level experiences prior to this. "It will be interesting to see how quickly they can adapt either to the college game or to our system, but so far I have been pleased with these players and their commitment to what we are doing.
 
Competing at this level: Potteiger's team has had only had one exhibition so far. He notes that his biggest question is whether they guys remember how to compete at this level. "If you are missing even three percent of the competitive fire necessary, then everything else technical or tactical will not matter. I thought in the first game (exhibition) our guys competed well and that is something then we can build on," he stressed. 
 
Seeking to improve: The coach stated, "We just need to keep learning our system, our agreements, and how to play cohesively together. The hard part about that is having not played a game for a while and the limited work the guys could do over the holiday break. We have had our fair share of little injuries that have kept us from playing completely as a group. There are no excuses as all teams will face these challenges, but it will take us a few weeks to really hit any sort of stride."
  
Conference schedule shortened, Flames Picked Third: The coach admits he is not concerned about the shortened spring season and says there is a reality to it. "We usually play 16 or 17 games in a regular season and the goal is to be peeking by the end of that. To only play six regular-season games before playoffs is a whole different story. Often, we will play six games before we play our first GSC game. We must recognize this is difference and handle it as such.  Appropriate expectations will be key for our team as there are some things that just take time."
 
Despite winning the GSC Championship a year ago the Flames were picked to finish third in Group B in the preseason poll. Auburn Montgomery was the top pick with 14 points and two first place votes. Alabama Huntsville followed with 13 and also garnered two top votes while the Flames followed with 11 points and had one first place nod.
 
Goals for this club: "Our goal is to get better every training session and every game," Potteiger explained.  "When we manage our expectations and keep our focus on the right things, then everything else will take care of itself.  Most championship teams talk very little about actual wins or losses or championships or rankings. Those things come up when talking about preparation and commitment. Teams are winners and champions because they prepare like winners and champions. That is where those terms are appropriate. For us we want to train and prepare and be committed like winners, like champions.  If we do that, then we can accept what happens on game day and over the course of a season," he concluded.