Lee Academy dropped a non-district soccer game 6-1 at home against Magnolia Heights School Wednesday, Aug. 19.
Liz Basha scored the Fillies’ one goal late in the second half.
Basha has scored five of Lee’s six goals on the 2020 soccer season.
Lee had around five shots on goal, while Magnolia Heights nearly doubled that.
Goalie Merri Evelyn Evans also had a few saves.
“We’re missing a starter, we’re missing essentially our first girl off the bench,” said Fillies coach Joseph Natalizio. “We have some other nagging injuries where some of our players can’t play as long as they would like and we’re managing.”
Natalizio said one of the injured players, a seventh-grade midfielder, was expected to be back this week.
“She’s going to add depth,” he said. “Depth is so important at this level of soccer, especially in the summertime.
“The other one is a very key player who I don’t think will be back until, hopefully, Wednesday of next week until we play Indianola.”
Since every team makes the playoffs, Natalizio said his biggest concern is having every athlete back for the postseason than the regular season.
Other issues besides injuries proved costly for Lee in the loss.
“Our defense played a little passive when they were defending,” Natalizio said. “When the other person didn’t have the ball, we jumped at the ball a little bit.
“They’re just mistakes that come without having experience. That’s what our team is. We have a good team, but we’re getting better. Our ceiling is a lot higher than where we’re at right now.”
Natalizio said he tweaked the lineup against Magnolia Heights.
“We created a lot of opportunities in the first 20 minutes that I don’t think we have seen before,” he said.
Lee is at Washington School Sept. 2.
