Lady Lions Soccer Team Concludes 2004 Season

The Freed-Hardeman University women’s soccer team completed their fall season recently. Their season ended in the semifinals of the TranSouth Athletic Conference Tournament to Martin Methodist College (6-0). Martin Methodist won the regular season title and the tournament championship. The Lady Lions finished with a record of 4-14-1 for the season.

The season began with high hopes for the Lady Lions as they entered the year with seven new faces. The season soon became a list of the injured for the Lady Lions. FHU lost Bethany Dye and Camille Cunningham for the year. Also, missing much of the year was Michelle Gallagher. Mandy Messer, Andrea Eufinger, Lauren Johnson, and Laurie Bennie all played with major injuries for most of the season. Close losses plagued the Lady Lions as they lost seven games by two goals or less. Highlights of the year came when the Lady Lions finished the year strong. FHU defeated Brewton-Parker College (3-1) on Oct. 21st, Lyon College (1-0) on Oct. 26th, and Faulkner University (6-2) on Oct. 30th.

The victory against Lyon College sent the Lady Lions to the conference tournament for the first time in school history. FHU was led in scoring by Leslie Tiensvold (junior from Independence, Missouri) who scored 7 goals and added 5 assists. Brittnea Dye (junior from Murfreesboro, Tennessee) added 5 goals and 2 assists for the Lady Lions. Mandy Messer was a standout in goal all year for FHU. Messer recorded 131 saves for the season. She was voted 1st Team All-Conference goalkeeper and was also voted to the 2nd Team NAIA All-Region XI Team.

The Lady Lions will look to improve in the fall of 2005. “We will look to add a good group of freshmen for next year,” said head coach Jason Elliott. “Not only do we need to add some depth to our roster but just getting everyone healthy will help us immensely. We will work as hard as we can to take some major strides next season. I believe we have a good group remaining with great attitudes about what is required of them.” The 2005 season begins for the Lady Lions when they travel to face Brewton-Parker College on Sept. 2nd. Home opener for the Lady Lions will be on Sept. 5th when they take on Bryan College.