GREENWOOD, SC. – It took two separate comebacks for the Lee University men's soccer team to earn a 2-2 draw with Lander University on  Saturday evening. The non-conference matchup brought the Flames record to 3-4-4 on the season
 
Lander took the lead very early in the contest less than a minute in. Carson Graves took a pass and muscled his way through two defenders and scored to give the Bearcats the lead. Lander had two more shots early in the first half but Jakob Buhrkuhl made the saves in goal for Lee.
 
The Flames tied the game on their first shot of the game in the 23^rd minute. Freshman Jesse Thompson scored his first goal of his career with a blast off of a pass from Marcos Garcia. 
 
Lander retook the lead in the 59^th minute when Callum Stokes took a strike from the left side of the box and blasted it into the corner of the net. After that, Lee dialed up the pressure but Lander's goalkeeper made several big saves.
 
Finally in the dying moments of the game Lee found another equalizer. Matthew Steyn passed the ball to Shay Gillen who took two steps and fired the shot into the back of the net with less than three minutes left on the clock. Ryan Chouyouti had one more shot in the last ten seconds but it went wide.
 
Lee outshot Lander 15-12 in the contest while both goalkeepers made six saves.
 
The Flames will stay on the road with a crucial road contest with Trevecca Nazarene University on Saturday, October 19.
 
Coach Derek Pottieger's Thoughts:
 
"That was a really good D2 college soccer game. The first thing I said to our guys in our first training this week in preparation for Lander is do not underestimate this team because of their record. 
 
And now at the end of the game I would double down on that and say they are one of the top teams we have played this season.  
 
Part of the energy of the game was that Lander has been shut down from the hurricane for 2 weeks and this was their first game back, so we knew they would be ready to go. 
 
I'm proud of the guys as they fought back two separate times in the game. Game-tying-goals are hard to come by, and we got two good ones tonight. 
That game serves us well in the midst of our GSC schedule and hopefully gives us some confidence heading into this last stretch of conference games. 
 
Trevecca will be a handful on Saturday and so our entire focus shifts to that game in Nashville."