CLEVELAND, Tenn.- Despite holding North Greenville University to just three shots all evening, the Lee University men's soccer team fell 1-0 to NGU. In the opening game of the season, the only goal came off a set piece in the 73^rd minute for NGU.
 
 Neither team managed much offense in the first half as they both only had two shots. Marlon Grossman had a few chances early for the Flames, but the passes intended for him were just off the mark. NGU only had one strong chance in the first half. Renan Macuglia had a breakaway chance in the 27^th minute. He aimed for the back right corner, but Jakob Buhrkuhl stuck his left foot out and made a huge save to keep the game scoreless. Buhrkuhl added one more save in the 38^th minute.
 
The second half had a few shots go wide early for Lee and couple of saves from the Trailblazers goalkeeper. NGU got on the board in the 73^rd minute. After a Shay Gillen foul for Lee, Nicolas Felix sent a free kick into the box for NGU. He found the head of Omer Gulmez who slotted it into the bottom left corner just past the diving Buhrkuhl.
 
The last 15 minutes of the game Lee dialed up the pressure forcing several big saves from NGU. Marc Ehmann had a long shot that was punched away, and Marlon Grossman had a breakaway shot that just missed the post .
 
Lee outshot NGU 11-3 but only had a 4-3 advantage in shots on goal. The Flames also had seven corners to zero for the Trailblazers. NGU had four yellow cards to just two for the Flames.
 
For Lee, it was the first opening game loss since the 2020 season (which was played in the spring of 2021).
 
The Flames will be back in action on Sunday, September 8 at Lincoln University of Missouri.
 
Coach Potteiger's Thoughts:
 
"Sometimes at the beginning of a season there is a lack of fluidity as we have a lot of new faces, but no excuses though as we had our opportunities, and we just have to capitalize. The deciding moment was they scored on a set piece, and we didn't convert our chances. Our execution was off tonight, we need to clean up our touch and solve problems in a much more complex way."