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CLEVELAND, Tenn. – In one of their more dominating Gulf South Conference performances of the year, Lee University women’s soccer team handily defeated visiting Union University 4-1 on a cool, windy Friday evening at the Ray Conn Sports Complex. The surging Lady Flames improved to 8-2-1 in conference play and 10-2-3 overall while the Lady Bulldogs dropped to 3-6-1, 4-6-3.
Lee will close out the regular season on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m.) and host Christian Brother University. It will be senior afternoon and head coach Lee Hughes and his staff will honor the outstanding leaders.
The Lady Flames took a 2-0 advantage at halftime. The first score came in the 27th minute (27:48) on Megan Davis’ second goal of the year. The double assist came off an outstanding pass from Lucy Smith to Analisa Lujan who immediately found the open Davis who banged her shot into the back of the net.
The second goal of the half came in the 36th minute (36:07) and was recorded by Grace Berry. The assist went to Sydney Clements. It was her first of the year.Lee wasted no time in opening the scoring in the second stanza. Freshman Maci Ritzman tallied her second goal of the year in the 58th minute (58:37) and Lucy Smith dished off her second assist of the afternoon, which turned out to be her second assist of the year.
In less than a minute later, the fourth and final tally was registered by the always present Berry. The unassisted goal came in the 59th minute (59:13) and was her fourth of the year. She also has six assists to go along with her goals.
Coach Hughes began to empty his bench immediately and used 10 reserves in the contest. Goalkeeper Abby Whitcomb and Avery Sides were the only Lee players to work the entire 90 minutes. Whitney Carrigan did her job for 81 minutes and Molly Cook played 80 minutes for the Lee defenders.
The Lady Flames fired 22 shots and placed 13 on goal. The Lady Bulldogs used a pair of goalkeepers Dehlia Placie opened for the first 45 minutes and gave up two goals while Antia Lopez Rodriguez was in net during the second half and gave up the last two scores. Whitcomb picked up three saves and gave up Union’s only goal on a penalty kick by Lucia Revuelto in the 79th minute.
Each side had four corner kicks. Seventeen penalties were called, nine against the Lady Flames and eight against the Lady Bulldogs.
Coach Lee Hughes thoughts:”I was very happy with the performance tonight. It was a full team effort, and I am really proud of the character we showed. Excited to be at home again Sunday to honor our seniors!
