CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Speed was the name of the rugged game as the Lee women's soccer team advanced to the semifinal round of the Gulf South Conference tournament with a 2-0 victory over stubborn Spring Hill College on a cool Sunday afternoon at the Ray Conn Sports Complex. The Lady Flames will face the winner of Union and UAH on Friday at the Loretta P. Spencer Complex in Huntsville, Ala.
The Lady Flames, who are seeded second in the conference tournament, improved to 12-1-3 while Spring Hill dropped to 6-6-5. The Lady Flames are ranked second in the latest South Region behind Florida Tech.
Lee broke the scoreless battle in the 23rd minute (23:36) when Aubrey Benfield used her speed to break away from the Badger defense and dished an outstanding pass to Addie Chapman who ripped her short shot into the back of the net. It was Chapman's seventh goal of the year.
The score remained 1-0 at the break. The Lady Flames had five shots in the first half, and Chapman's score was the only one on goal. The Badgers attempted a total of three shots in the opening 45 minutes.
The final tally came in the 53rd minute (53:32) and again the Lady Flames used their superior athletic abilities to produce the goal. It started with a break-away by Moa Ekman who sent her pass to Chapman who delivered a strike to Abigail Davis. Davis promptly made her work a thing of beauty by knocking a shot past the Badger goalkeeper for her fourth goal of the year.
The defensive battle saw Lee attempt six total shots and placed three on target. Kloe Reeves had the other shot on goal for the Lady Flames. Badger keeper Ava Bell had one save. Spring Hill finished with five shots for the match and had two in the second half. Lee keeper Abby Whitcomb was credited with two saves and picked up her 12th win of the year.
Isabella Valentine, Benfield, Molly Cook, Ekman and Sydney Clements joined Whitcomb in helping produce Lee's ninth shutout of the season. Spring Hill did manage five corner kicks while Lee only collected two. The hotly contested affair saw 28 fouls called. The Lady Flames were whistled for 18 and the Badgers 10. Each club picked up a yellow card.
Coach Lee Hughes's Thoughts:
"At this point of the year every team we play will be a tough game because they are all going to fight. We just wanted to maintain the level of competing that we have been and we did that today."
