CLEVELAND, Tenn.-Behind another solid defensive effort, the Lee University women's soccer team improved to 5-0-3 overall and 2-0 against GSC competition with a 2-0 shutout over visiting Delta State University (5-4-0, 2-2) on Sunday afternoon at the Ray Conn Sports Complex.

The victory keeps Lee's games played without a loss alive. Over the past two years the Lady Flames improved their record to 24-0-4.

The defensive battle saw the Lady Flames break the scoring ice at the 36:01 mark when the senior combo of Kate Dirkse and Mallory Hayden delivered. Hayden fired a perfect corner kick into the box and Dirkse promptly headed the ball over the head of Delta State goalkeeper Bailey Daugherty for the score. It was Dirkse's second goal of the year and Hayden's second assist.

"We challenged the girls on not allowing a tie today. It was a gutsy win on Friday and another here today," remarked Lee Coach Chris Hennessey. "There were big steps forward here today. The Sunday games are so much slower than Friday's. Our ideas were a lot better than they have been in recent weeks. We were a lot more fluid in the way we attacked today."

The battle remained 1-0 at the halftime break. The Lee defense permitted the Lady Statesmen only two shots in the 45-minute stretch while the Lady Flames fired seven shots. All totaled, Delta State had only seven shots the entire afternoon and two were on goal. Lee's Josie Taylor had a pair of saves. 

The Lady Flames salted the victory away near the end of the 53^rdminute. Senior Ellie Crisler drilled her 10^thgoal of the year on a header after freshman Juliana Lopes worked overtime to place her shot in front of the net for her second assist of the year. Lee fired 11 shots and five were on goal. 

Other than Crisler's goal and one other shot on goal plus Dirkse's score, Grace Berry and Alexis Hale also had Lee's other shots on goal. The Lee defense was led by Avery Engels and Katie Wilson who both played the entire 90 minutes. Ashley Eulo and Jordan Blair also stepped up in the victory.

The Lady Flames limited Delta State to two corner kicks, both coming in the first half. On the other hand, Lee had one corner kick in the opening 45 minutes but had three opportunities in the second half. Both of Taylor's saves came in the second 45 minutes.

Lee will hit the road for a pair of games next weekend. "Next weekend is another typical GSC series," pointed out Coach Hennessey. "There is a lot of travel between West Georgia (Friday night's opponent) and Valdosta State (Sunday's opponent). We will prepare the best we can and look for a couple of positive results."