Palle Jespersen scored the game winner with just five minutes remaining to give the Lee men's soccer team a huge 2-1 victory over Gulf South Conference foe Union University on Sunday afternoon from the Lee Soccer Field.
Jespersen, a senior forward from Malente, Germany, scored both Lee goals as he drilled home a shot off a cross from Samir Williams at the 25:16 mark to get the Flames on the board first.
When asked about the game winning goal Jespersen said, "Alfie (Coldron) played me a great ball in the box and was able to connect with it.
I'm just really happy we were able to come away with the win, we needed this after a few tough matches so it feels good."
The Bulldogs equalized in the 66th minute after a near miss just moments earlier when Cole Asfour snuck a shot past Lee keeper Daniel Hrenko. Gavin Scott was credited with the assist.
Momentum switched back to the home team however as Union played the final 17:30 a man down after a red card was handed out for an aggressive play.
The Flames held a 22-6 advantage in shots and put 10 on target compared to just two for the visitors. Lee dominated the first half out shooting the Bulldogs, 10-1. The Flames had five of those shots on target.
"I thought we played three really good halves of soccer this weekend but we did not play well at all in the second half," noted head coach Derek Potteiger. "We have some things that we need to clean up and that is going to be important for us to do if we want to continue to set our sights on hosting a playoff game here."
Lee keeper Daniel Hrenko had one save in earning his eighth win of the year. Union net minder Casper Nyberg tallied eight saves in the loss.
Sunday's battle marked the first time in four matches Lee didn't go to overtime in the evenly matched GSC.
The win sends the Flames to 8-3-3 on the year and 6-1-2 in the GSC, good enough for the third place behind West Florida and Spring Hill. The loss drops Union to 1-8-3 overall and 1-6-2 in league action.
Lee will embark on its final road trip of the year as they head to Alabama Huntsville on Friday for a 6 p.m. kickoff before wrapping up the weekend with West Alabama on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.