LEE UNIVERSITY’S Ashley Aragona gets away from a Rheinhardt defender during Saturday’s 3-0 Lady Flame victory in the opening round of the NAIA National Championships. Lee University photo
It took Lee nearly 27 minutes on a blustery afternoon to crack the scoreboard. Leah Fortune scored the eventual game-winner with a header of an Amy Cochran cross. The score would remain 1-0 at the half.
Cochran would set up Lee’s second goal with another cross into the penalty area in the 74th minute, which Ashley Aragona placed with a header into the back of the goal.
Freshman Rachael Nasralla would tally the final goal of the day in the 84th minute. Less than one minute after subbing into the game, Nasralla recorded her third goal of the year after receiving a corner kick from Jordan Woody.
“I thought our effort today was fantastic,” Lee head coach Matt Yelton said. “I was really pleased with how hard the girls worked and the attitude that we took onto the field. However, I thought we could have been a little better with our decision making and capitalizing on the opportunities that we did have.”
The Lady Flames outshot Reinhardt (14-4-2) 29-3 and put 17 shots on target to the Lady Eagles one. Lee also held a 14-1 margin in corner kicks.
Kayleigh Clark turned aside 14 of the Lady Flames shots on goal in the losing effort.
“I thought Reinhardt put in a very good performance and that their goalkeeper played a fantastic match. They were very well prepared and played us very tight through the match,” Yelton added.
Lee advances to the 2011 NAIA Women’s Soccer Championships in Decatur, Ala. The event will be held at the Jack Allen Complex from Nov. 28 to Dec. 3.
“We are pleased to be moving to Decatur and having the opportunity to make the final site again. We will play a very good Houghton (N.Y.) team that was able to go on the road and get a win against a quality Northwood (Fla.) team, so we will need to be very prepared to play at our best,” summarized Yelton.
