Women's Soccer Advances to GSC Semifinals With Impressive Win Over Blazers
It is onto Huntsville, Ala. for the Lee University women’s soccer team. The Lady Flames scored an impressive 5-1 victory over visiting Valdosta State University in the quarterfinal round of the Gulf South Conference Championship staged at the Ray Conn Sports Complex on Sunday afternoon.
With the victory, Lee improved to 7-4-6 overall and Valdosta State concludes its season at 8-7-3. The Lady Flames advance to the semifinal round of the GSC Championship and will face West Florida on Friday at 4 p.m. (EST).
Lee wasted no time in jumping on top at the 5:32 mark in the opening half. Senior Kassidy Kellett picked up a cross from Avery Sides and her shot sailed over the head of the Blazer keeper into the corner of the net. Junior Alaysia Nye put the Lady Flames up 2-0 with the clock showing 17:24 in the opening frame. Her third score of the year was assisted by graduate student Mallory Hayden.
The Blazers cut the lead to 2-1 in the 23:28 minute when Kaitlyn Scherer tallied on an assist from Molly Woodridge. On one of the most unusual goals of the season, Lee made it a 3-1 lead at the half when a deflection by the Valdosta State keeper was cleared at sophomore Maddie Davis and the deflection went flying right back into the goal.
Kellett, who had not scored before last week, recorded her second goal of the afternoon. It came at the 61:12 mark of the second half and gave the Lady Flames a commanding 4-1 lead. The goal was assisted by junior Grace Berry. The skillful Berry came back with a score of her own in the 63rd minute (63:28). It was her sixth goal of the year and was assisted by freshman Lucy Smith.
On the afternoon, Lee fired 20 shots and put eight on target. Kellett posted four of the shots, Berry had two, Isabella Valentine two, Davis two and Nye five. Tatum Miller, Jordan Blair, Sydnee Smith and Beyonce Robinson had one shot apiece.
Valdosta State was held to only five shots and had two on goal. Claire Timberlake posted three saves and was charged with the loss. Abby Whitcomb had one save and picked up her seventh win of the year.
Lee’s domination showed by having eight corner kicks to just two for the Blazers. The rugged contest had 16 fouls called on Valdosta State and 11 against the Lady Flames. The Blazers received two yellow cards and Lee one.
Coach Lee Hughes’ thoughts:
“I was really happy with our effort today! Today shows the growth journey we have been on. It is not easy to play the same team twice in a week but the girls showed up with resilience, grit and played with a whole lot of joy. They are excited to keep it going!”
