By Greg Oshust

goshust@mdjonline.com

MARIETTA - The Southern Poly men's soccer team dominated Lee University in every facet of the game in Thursday's semifinal in the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament.

That is, except for the final score.

Fifth-seeded Lee scored two goals in the second half to come from behind and upset the top-seeded Hornets, 2-1, at Nuesoft Technologies Field.

Southern Poly (13-1-1), the No. 4 team in the NAIA's national rankings, appeared to be in control of the game with a clear advantage over Lee in shots on goal (10-4) and corner kicks (7-1). The Hornets also had a 1-0 lead going into the second half.

However, it is only the final score that count in the end as Lee took advantage of Southern Poly lapses to score its first goal with 20:26 remaining in the match and its game-winning goal with 3:03 left.

"I think we were too casual in the second half, and we gave up a couple of goals." Southern Poly coach Kom Momeni said. "We were the better team from start to finish, but we were very casual on defense on the first goal and second goal."

Not only was it Southern Poly's first loss of the season, it was the first time that the Hornets had trailed in a game all season.

Lee (9-8-3) will now play at second-seeded Auburn Montgomery on Saturday in the SSAC championship.

While the loss ended Southern Poly's quest for its first SSAC title, the Hornets still have a shot at receiving an at-large bid into the NAIA tournament, which will begin with first-round matches at the sites of the higher-seeded teams next Saturday.

Thursday's game was finally played after being twice postponed Tuesday and Wednesday due to rain.

Southern Poly pressed the attack from the beginning and got a number of shots on goal, including a shot by Felipe Lopez that hit the upper-left corner of the goal with 28 minutes remaining in the first half.

The Hornets finally got on the scoreboard when Emeka Maduka, the team's leading scorer, lofted a shot over the head of Lee goalkeeper Michael Simmons with 16:36 left in the first half to give the Hornets a 1-0 lead.

The Southern Poly defense also did its job in the first half, limiting the Flames to only one shot on goal.

Diego Nicholson nearly increased Southern Poly's lead to 2-0 early in the second half, but his shot with 29:47 remaining in the game barely skidded off to the right of the goal.

Nicholson's attempt was among a number of scoring attempts that the Hornets' barely missed in the second half.

"We had seven good looks in the second half, but we just couldn't finish," Momeni said.

It was Lee which got on the scoreboard next when Mohamed Aden took a ball in the air and booted it past Southern Poly goalkeeper Eric Ati for the game-tying goal with 20:26 left.

Southern Poly had several more scoring attempts fall short, including a shot by Henning Blenkle, off of a cross from Scott Anderson, that was deflected in front of the goal by a Lee defender with 8:18 left.

Earl Alcide provided the game-winning goal for the?Flames when he booted a long shot that bounced once on the ground before skidding into the goal with 3:03 left.

Despite the loss, Momeni was pleased with his team's performance.

"We really played a very good game, but soccer is a game where you can outplay the other team and still lose."