JACKSON, Tenn. - The Lee University Flames defeated the Union University Bulldogs on the road 3-1 to earn a spot in the Gulf South Conference Tournament on Sunday afternoon
Play for the afternoon began with an intense onset from the Flames. With ten shots in the first half, the Flames were leading the offensive drive against the Bulldogs' two shots.
Marlon Grossmann capitalized on this momentum and scored the first goal of the competition. Coming off of the bench, Grossmann took a shot and scored in the center of the goal, assisted by Will Tidwell, and gave the Flames the lead.
After the half, the Flames continued their domination with two back-to-back goals. Marcos Garcia scored in the 48th minute to add to the Flames lead. Midfielder Nick Lu assisted the shot. Farid Chouyouti pushed the Flames further towards victory with the third goal from the team. Assisted by Zane Marsh, Chouyouti gave the Flames the clear edge in the Bulldogs' territory.
The strong showing of offense from the Flames set the team up for success. The Bulldogs, however, would not let this tirade go unanswered. In the 89th minute, the Bulldogs attempted to comeback against the Flames' lead. Ashanie Kennedy scored the goal from the right side of the field, assisted by Luca Pereira, as Bulldogs tried to climb back into the contest.
The Flames won the match 3-1 and further solidified their place in the Gulf South Conference tournament as the season came to its end.
With the win, the Flames clinched a spot in the Gulf South Conference tournament. They will play at the University of West Florida next Saturday at 8 PM EST.
Coach Potteiger's Thoughts:
"I'm so proud of the guys as that game carried a lot of pressure. We tried to downplay it as much possible but we all knew we had to win to get into the playoffs and so that can make things a lot more stressful.
The group handled the stress, got a good goal in the first half and then closed the door with 2 more early in the second half. We had plenty of tired legs from a really heavy performance on Friday, and so we need both those players to dig deep and we needed some guys to come off the bench today and make an impact, and we got both of those things.
Where we finished in the standings doesn't represent our performances for the year and so we want to take full advantage of the playoffs and see what sort of run we can make.
I have complete belief in this group and so we will head into next Saturday's game with nothing to lose."
