Lee County and Southern Lee were each taking on conference rivals below them in the standings Tuesday night, and both teams took care of business.
The Lady Cavaliers achieved the program’s highest single-season win total in eight years with an 8-1 victory over winless Scotland, while the Lady Jackets bounced back from two straight one-goal defeats with a 3-0 shutout of visiting Hoke County.
The results left the two teams in third and fourth place in the SAC standings, looking up at the pair of Moore County teams. Union Pines leads the league at 10-3-1, 7-0 SAC, followed by Pinecrest at 11-4, 6-1. Both teams won on Tuesday. Southern Lee is third at 11-2, 5-2, with the Lady Jackets next up at 6-5, 4-4.
The Lady Cavaliers had not won more than 10 matches in any season since winning 15 in 2017. Last year’s 10-10 season marked the first time Southern’s program had even reached double-digit wins since then. But the team has been on a roll this spring, losing only to the two Moore teams on their own pitches, and Tuesday’s match was not much of a contest.
Junior Ryan Phillips has moved back and forth between the offensive and defensive ends of the field this season after a 40-goal campaign a year ago, but was deployed on the attack against the Scots. She scored four goals and had one assist in the win, earning her second hat trick of the 2025 season along the way. Natalie Serrano scored two goals, with Brooke Burrus and Logan Hickman each scoring once. Burrus had two assists, with Hickman, Serrano and Kayla Lopez each credited with one assist.
Lee County had seen some hard luck in its most recent two outings, in which it lost by one goal on the road to both Southern and Union Pines. The Lady Jackets needed a win and got it by shutting down the Bucks.
Lee had two goals in the first half and added one in the second. Keeper Maggie Sessoms had three saves and the Lady Jacket back line did the rest, preventing Hoke (5-9, 2-6 SAC) from getting on the board.
The Lady Jackets’ goals came from Lila Moshfegh, Amberly Centeno and Ava Baldwin. Assists were credited to Addy Allen, Baldwin, and Moshfegh.
In last Friday’s loss to Union Pines, the homestanding Lady Vikings, ranked No. 3 in the 3A East, took a 1-0 lead in the first half of a goal from Grace Queen, assisted by Gardner-Webb University signee Taryn Pekala. They made it stand up to get the win.
No other team in the SAC outside the top four has anything resembling a winning record. Richmond is in fifth place at 5-8-1, 2-5, a game up on Hoke in the loss column. Scotland has not yet won a match in conference or otherwise.
Lee County traveled to Terry Sanford on Wednesday for a non-league game, while Hoke hosted Purnell Swett. Lee is off on Friday while the other six teams play. Southern will host Pinecrest and try to avenge one of its two losses this season, while Union Pines hosts Scotland and Richmond hosts Hoke County.
