CLINTON, Miss. – Nora Burton came off the bench with some 35 minutes remaining in the opening half and tallied what turned out to be the winning goal at the 32:08 mark as the Lee University women's soccer team handed host Mississippi College a 2-1 defeat on Friday afternoon. The Lady Flames will continue their Mississippi road adventures on Sunday when they move on over to the Delta and face Delta State University at 2 p.m.
The Choctaws wasted no time in gaining a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute (5:42) on a goal by Olivia Graham that was assisted by Erin Stamatopoulos. The two teams battled until Alaysia Nye nailed her 10th goal of the season to deadlock the contest in the 21st minute (21:44). Burton's goal was assisted by Riley Bradley.
Megan Davis and Lucy Smith had Lee's other shots on goal. Abby Whitcomb, Molly Cook, Avery Sides and Whitney Carrigan played the entire 90 minutes in the Mississippi heat. Sydney Clements worked for 87 minutes, and Coach Lee Hughes went to his bench for six reserves in the game. On the other side, the Choctaws had three players for the entire 90 minutes and eight reserves saw action.
The second 45 minutes turned into a defensive struggle. Lee had nine of its 13 overall shots in the second half while Mississippi College had eight of its 17 overall shots. The Lady Flames placed only four shots on target according to the stats while the Choctaws had eight on net.
Lee keeper Whitcomb was kept busy with seven saves and picked up her eighth win of the year. Choctaw's keeper Celine Grothe was credited with only two saves and allowed Lee's two goals. The Lady Flames improved to 6-2-1 in the important GSC play and 8-2-3 overall while Mississippi College dropped to 3-4-2, 5-7-3.
Both sides worked hard for five corner kicks apiece while the rugged contest saw only 12 fouls called, seven against Lee and five against the Choctaws. There were no yellow cards issued.
Coach Lee Hughes' thoughts:
"This game was a character builder for us. We were looking to continue to improve areas of our game and our culture. I was very pleased that we did that today. We do need to be a bit more clinical with the chances we got but I'm happy we are in the right spot. We are taking this trip one day at a time and we will focus on getting better tomorrow."
