CLEVELAND, Miss. – Despite a one-day delay because of heavy rain in the Delta State University area, the Lee University women's soccer team completed a sweep of the Mississippi trip by defeating host Delta State 3-1 on Monday afternoon. The match was moved from the Delta Field to the football complex that has an artificial turf.
The victory improved the Lady Flames to 7-2-1 in GSC play and 9-2-3 overall. The Lady Statesmen dropped to 4-3-3, 5-5-4. Lee remains in a third-place tie with the University of West Alabama in the conference standings. They will return home and close out the regular season, hosting Union University on Friday (5 p.m.) and Christian Brothers University on Sunday (1 p.m.).
The Lady Flames opened the scoring in the 12th minute (12:34) of the first half on the 11th goal of the year by Alaysia Nye. The assist was the first of three by Grace Berry. Maci Ritzman came on in reserve and gave Lee a 2-0 lead in the 39th minute (39:46). when her shot deflected off of a DSU player for an own goal.
Three minutes deep into the second half (48:09) the Lady Flames jumped to a commanding 3-0 advantage on Megan Davis' goal. It was her fifth score of the season. Berry's third assist increased her number to six for the year.
Nora Burton took Lee's other shot on goal while Molly Cook, Avery Sides, Whitney Carrigan, Abby Whitcomb joined Berry in playing the entire 90 minutes. Coach Lee Hughes used seven reserves in the win with Mallory Miller and Ritzman playing over 40 minutes apiece.
Delta State's tally came in the 60th minute (60:53) and was listed on the DSU stats as a team goal. The Lady Statesmen fired a lot of long shots at the goal and out-shot the Lady Flames 18-8. Twelve of the Delta shots were listed on goal while all three Lee shots were scores on target.
Lady Flames' keeper Abby Whitcomb was credited with 11 saves and picked up her ninth win of the year. Piper Burgess was the losing DSU keeper. She got credit for one save but allowed the three scores.
In the opening half, Lee had six shots but were listed with only two in the second stanza. On the other hand, Delta State had six shots in the opening 45 minutes and 12 in the hectic second half. The Lady Flames had seven corner kicks and DSU worked for eight. Lee was called for 15 fouls and the Lady Statesmen eight. There were no yellow cards issued.
Coach Lee Hughes' thoughts:
"We are happy to leave this trip with two wins. The girls went through a lot over the past few days and dealt with it all with first class. We are growing all the time and this week is no different. We keep looking to be better than we were yesterday."
