CLEVELAND, Tenn.- On a very warm afternoon that brought a rain shower, the Lee University women’s soccer team fought to a 1-1 draw with the University of Alabama in Huntsville Chargers. Lee struck first on a nice strike from Isabella Valentine, but late pressure and a long strike resulted in a draw for the Lady Flames. With the draw Lee is now 1-2-3 on the year while UAH is 2-3-1.
The Chargers had the first chance of the afternoon as Jayla Gillespie got past the Lee defense and had a one-on-one opportunity with the goalkeeper Abby Whitcomb, but her shot went wide.
Beyonce Robinson and Jordan Blair each had chances in the first half, but it was Isabella Valentine who scored the opening goal with a shot from the right side of the box. She took the pass from Kassidy Kellett to give the Lee lead at the half.
The second half saw UAH dial up the pressure. They ended up outshooting the Lady Flames in the second period. Even after the rain started to fall, UAH kept the pressure and in the 80th minute, Gillespie fired a shot from over 25 yards out and found the back of the net for the equalizer. The Lady Flames had two shots from Amelya Jacobs and Jordan Blair in the final ten minutes, but the goalkeeper for UAH, CeCe Szopa made three big saves to keep it level.
UAH outshot Lee 14-10 in the contest although Lee had eight shots on target. In goal, Abby Whitcomb made four saves while Szopa had seven saves for UAH.
The Lady Flames will head to Alabama next weekend and will take on Auburn University Montgomery on Friday, September 27 at 6 PM.
Coach Lee Hughes’ Thoughts:
“It’s tough when you give up a long shot, but honestly we didn’t deserve anything today. Didn’t work hard enough and that is the message to the team that we didn’t fight.”
“This team doesn’t always stand up and fight enough and we need to find some resilience.”
