The Belmont Abbey women's soccer team cut a 2-0 deficit with a goal by freshman Meghan Philp with 1:03 left, but the Lees-McRae Bobcats staved off a final Crusader flurry to earn a 2-0 Conference Carolinas win this afternoon at Alumni Field. Lees-McRae moves to 4-3-1 overall and 3-1-0 in Conference Carolinas, while the Crusaders drop to 3-5-0 overall and 2-1-0 in Conference Carolinas.

The first half nearly played to a scoreless tie, but not without scoring chances. The first was Abbey goalkeeper Hannah Kohls swatting away an Ariana Smith penalty kick midway through the first half, but Lees-McRae got on the board with 24 ticks left in the stanza as MaryBeth Sullivan served a cross to the center of the box, to the waiting feet of Molly Ames, whose strike beat Kohls for the goal.

That was all of the scoring until the 85th minute when the Bobcats added an insurance goal as Meagan Thorton fired a 20 yard shot past Kohls, who came off her line to defend.

Belmont Abbey mustered a final charge, as Philp gave the Crusaders life with 1:03 left when she lashed home a blast off of a rebound from eight yards out for her fourth goal of the year.

Lees-McRae held off the Abbey in the final minute to earn the win.

The Bobcats outshot the Abbey 18-6 and held a 4-3 edge in corner kicks. Kohls made seven saves.