The Lee University women’s soccer team began this month with a trip to the United Kingdom and begins its season tonight in the Pacific Northwest.
But Matt Yelton’s Lady Flames are used to going far. After several seasons of deep NAIA playoff runs, they’ve won the national championship the last three years and begin this season ranked No. 1.
They’ll find out soon if they belong there. At 10 EDT tonight they face third-ranked Concordia University in Portland, Ore., and Saturday they play No. 2 Azusa Pacific on the same field.
“We didn’t make it easy on ourselves,” said Yelton, who is 233-71-11 as a college coach and 179-31-6 in nine years at the Cleveland school. “This is a good opportunity to find out early where we are and where we need to be. Facing the toughest teams is part of the preparation for our ultimate goal of a championship.”
The trip to England, Scotland and Wales helped the Lady Flames get some experience together. They went 4-1 in exhibitions there, and the freshmen were blended with older players both on the field and in other activities.