CLEVELAND, Tenn.- West Florida women’s soccer team displayed why they are unbeaten in Gulf South Conference action on a toasty Sunday afternoon at the Ray Conn Sports Complex. The Argonauts used a tough defense that held Lee to only two shots on goal and four shots overall in handing the Lady Flames their first conference loss.
The 2-0 victory improved West Florida to 4-0-1 in GSC play and 6-1-2 overall while Lee dropped to 3-1-1 and 3-3-3. Coach Lee Hughes will send his Lady Flames back into action on Friday and travel to Nashville facing new conference member and old rival Trevecca Nazarene at 6 p.m.
The hotly-contested first half saw the Argonauts get on the board in the 27th minute (27:44) on a goal by Emma Beltz. It was a penalty kick which was disputed by the Lee bench that put the Argos out to a commanding 2-0 lead in the 38th minute (38:34). The kick was taken by Megan Gettys.
In the first 45 minutes, West Florida fired 10 shots and had four on goal while the Lady Flames only had one shot. For the game, the visitors controlled midfield and moved forward for 14 shots and placed six on target. Lee’s
Abby Whitcomb recorded four saves and allowed two goals. Thanks to the rugged West Florida defense, keeper Maciah Lipsey came up with only two saves the entire afternoon.
Lee shots on goal were taken by Isabella Valentine in the 51st minute (51:42) of the second half and sophomore Maddie Davis had a golden opportunity to score in the 72nd minute (72:47), but Lipsey was there to make an outstanding save. Jordan Blair and Addie Chapman also took the other shots that were off target.
The rugged play saw West Florida whistled for 20 fouls and Lee 11. The Lady Flames’ midfield and defenders fought hard the entire game, but the Argos had eight corner kicks to just one for the Lady Flames.
Coach Lee Hughes’ thoughts:
“Honestly, I was happy with the way we competed! Unfortunately, that didn’t show in the result.”
“We are getting better in certain areas every week and this coming week will be no different.”
“We head back out on the road for another big conference game!”
