November 6, 2015 BOX SCORE FLORENCE, Ala. – The University of West Florida women's soccer team fell 4-3 in penalty kicks against Lee in Friday night's Gulf South Conference Tournament semifinal match. Following the match, UWF's record stands at 14-4-1 on the season.
"Lee's a very good team," head coach
Joe Bartlinski said. "Our kids were courageous. We went down a couple times in the match, and we battled back, so I'm very proud of the effort our players put in today. Hopefully, it's enough to get into the next tournament, and if we advance, our youngsters will be prepared."
Like the first time these teams met this year, momentum shifted back and forth often during the match. Lee got the scoring started in the 21st minute, and
Alisa Festagallo (Fort Pierce, Fla./Lincoln Park Academy) netted her third goal of the season just 11 minutes later.
In the 39th minute, Lee took a 2-1 lead off a corner kick from McKenzie Bricker.
Bri Young (Navarre, Fla./Navarre HS) found the net with a thru ball from
Daryl Bell (Sarasota, Fla./Southeast HS), which tied the match at 2-2 going into halftime.
Shortly after the second half began, Lee jumped ahead and held the lead for much of the half. Momentum shifted yet again when
Georgia Bailey (St. Catherine, Jamaica/St. Jago HS) knocked a
Kaley Ward corner kick into the net with just six seconds remaining in regulation.
"I really felt that our defenders did great," Bartlinski said. "Although Lee scored some goals, they were all on set pieces and I felt our collective defense did very well. If we can sort out some small issues, we should do very well."
The teams tied with 12 shots apiece at the end of regulation, and Lee added just two more in the two 10-minute overtime periods. The Argos and Flames held each other scoreless in overtime and advanced into penalty kicks. The teams were also evenly matched in corner kicks, as they tied 3-3 after the first five attempts. Lee capitalized on the sixth kicker to take the win.
Because UWF ranked fourth in the latest NCAA South Region rankings, the Argos remain in contention for an NCAA Tournament bid. The NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Selection Show will take place Monday at 5:30 p.m. CT on NCAA.com, when UWF will learn about its playoff hopes.
For information on all UWF athletics, visit
www.GoArgos.com.
