CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The University of West Florida women's soccer team dropped a close match against No. 24 Lee on Saturday afternoon, falling 3-2 in Cleveland, Tennessee. UWF now stands at 7-3-1 on the year with a 4-2-1 record in the Gulf South Conference.
 
Lee jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead with a Riley Engels goal in the third minute, but the Lady Flames lead would not last for long. In the 11th minute, the Argos evened things up with a goal from Grace Busby – her third of the year. Busby's score came after a free kick from Leonie Kreil and a mass of confusion at the line.
 
West Florida jumped ahead 2-1 just six minutes later after a Lee foul was committed on Shantell Thompson in the box and Leonie Kreil converted on the following penalty kick. The goal was Kreil's fourth of the year, which is the second-highest total on the team, and she now has 14 points on the year, with a Gulf South Conference-best six assists to go along with those four goals.
 
A Summer Lanter header in the 24th minute made it 2-2, and the teams played a scoreless final 21 minutes to take a tie into halftime.
 
The first 15 minutes of the final half were evenly played, but another header from Lanter in the 60th minute gave the Lady Flames the final goal of the match, putting the score at 3-2.
 
While UWF did not even things back up, the deficit did not slow down the West Florida attack, and the Argos outshot Lee 3-1 over the final 30 minutes. The Argonauts finished the contest with 13 shots, compared to 16 from Lee.
 
UWF hosts Montevallo on Wednesday, October 11, at the UWF Soccer Complex, and will host West Georgia on Friday the 13th and North Alabama on Sunday the 15th.