CLEVELAND, Tenn. - The Lee women's soccer team was in complete control for the entire 90 minutes as they improved to 7-1-1 with a 4-0 non-conference victory over Lincoln Memorial University at the Ray Conn Sports Complex on Wednesday evening. The Lady Flames will return to GSC action on Saturday when they travel to Jackson, Tenn. and face Union University at 2 p.m.
Lee coach Lee Hughes pointed out that Union did not have a mid-week game, and he took the opportunity to rotate players (23) in the win over the Railsplitters. Only one Lady Flame played the entire 90 minutes, and that was goalkeeper Abby Whitcomb, who collected two saves and posted her seventh victory of the year.
Addie Chapman, who is Lee's leading scorer with five, tallied the first goal of the evening when Megan Davis delivered a corner kick into the center of the box and Chapman quickly picked up the score at the 11:43 mark.
The Lady Flames waited until almost halftime (44:33) before building the lead to 2-0. Maddie Davis knocked in the unassisted goal. It was her second goal of the season. Lee outshot the visitors 8-1 in the first 45 minutes and 10-1 in the second half. Eleven of the Lady Flames' shots were on goal.
Lucy Smith tallied on a cross that rolled through several of the LMU players and into the back of the net, giving the Lady Flames a 3-0 lead in the 67th minute. It was her first goal of the year. The final tally came off the foot of the aggressive Emma Nelson. Her fourth goal of the year came off an assist from Audrey O'Meara in the 71st minute.
Railsplitter keeper Emma Cooke was kept busy for the entire 90 minutes and registered seven saves. Isabella Valentine fired three shots on goal, while Lucy Smith and Nelson had two shots on target and Aubrey Benfield and O'Meara had one each.
The Lee shutout was led by Molly Cook, Whitney Carrigan, and Moa Ekman. Each team had four corner kicks, and both teams received a yellow card. Lee was called for 11 fouls and LMU for only three.
Coach Lee Hughes's Thoughts:
"I didn't think in the first half we were living out or culture and was pretty upset at halftime. I was glad we got the response in the second half. We are always focusing on us and how we can get better and we saw that in the second half."
