Cleveland, Tenn.-The Lee University Flames men's soccer team faced the University of Alabama Huntsville Chargers in an early season conference matchup on September 22. After two halves of an intense game, the final score resulted in a 1-1 tie. The tie gave the Flames a 2-2-2 record, 1-0-1 for Gulf South Conference play, while the Chargers have a 1-2-3 record, 0-1-1 for conference play.
The Sunday afternoon game began with a first half dominated by the Flames. Marcos Garcia scored the first goal of the game 19 minutes into the action, assisted by Shay Gillen. The Flames had two shots deflected by the UAH goalkeeper before Garcia found a way to get the ball in the back of the net. The team overall in the first half took a total of 14 shots and carried the momentum of the game almost single handedly.
The Chargers, however, came back to the second half of the game with a tenacious commitment to rally. Within five minutes of the latter half of play, Oli Orzechowski, assisted by Harvery Hewson, scored the Chargers' first goal of the match.
Emotions were high during the match. With a whopping 35 fouls, for both teams, and eight yellow cards, both teams fought relentlessly to crank out a win for their team. Through a multitude of corner kicks and attempted shots, the atmosphere of the Ray Conn Sports Complex was tense as the Flames tried to retake the lead.
Both squads had opportunities to score the winning goal in the final moments of play, but neither team could secure the victory. Despite the tied score, the Sunday match showcased the Flames' grit and balance on the offensive end with five of their players taking multiple shots.
The Flames will continue their conference schedule on Friday, September 27th, against the Auburn University Montgomery Warhawks in Montgomery, Alabama.
Coach Potteiger's Thoughts:
"I told the guys that the game is 90 minutes, but sometimes decisive moments happen really early. We had our chances early and we have to take them and bury the game. We did that Friday night against West Alabama but didn't do that today."
"Sunday's are hard to be intense and we went on cruise control for a few minutes and allowed them back into the game. We had our chances but just didn't convert."
