Redhawks have sights set on Eagles

The Southeast Women’s Soccer team’s regular season has come to a close with an overall record of 5-9-2 and an Ohio Valley Conference record of 2-4-2. The Redhawks enter the OVC Tournament as the seventh seed and will take on sixth seeded Morehead State University on Friday, Oct 29. at 6 p.m. at Belmont University’s field in Nashville, Tennessee.

SEMO last faced Morehead State on Oct 17. in a game that ended in a 0-0 draw after two overtime periods. This game was controlled offensively by the Eagles who had ten shots, five of which were on goal, whereas Southeast was held to only three shots with just one on goal.

Senior midfielder Lauren Welker said a good word to describe how the team is feeling is “ready.”

“We’ve had good practices all week,” Welker said. “We’re gonna finish up some final touches in the morning and I think we’ll be ready.”

The Redhawks are coming off another draw against Tennessee Tech on Oct. 24 which saw SEMO get outshot 8-5. The defense has been there with the defenders holding the shots on goal to low numbers and keeping senior goalkeeper Bailey Reddon from being too busy. The offense has gotten off to slow starts in the last three games, creating more scoring opportunities in the second half than in the first.

Southeast Head Coach Heather Nelson said the team has settled into their offensive system and they are now more comfortable.

“We’ve had more opportunities to play in the system that we settled on playing,” Nelson said. “We’ve gotten to see them once so that will allow us to refine our gameplan.”

In the postseason there will be no draws, at the conclusion of two overtime periods the game goes into penalty kicks. NCAA rules say ten players from each team get a one-on-one shot with the goalkeeper from the opposing team and the team who makes the greater number of shots moves on.

Coach Nelson said the team has been working on penalty kicks for nearly the last two months.

“We’re in a very good place with ten shooters that I’m confident in,” Nelson said. “We just need to get comfortable on Belmont’s surface tomorrow.”

If the Redhawks defeat Morehead State they will move on to face the third seeded Belmont University Bruins on Oct. 31 at 2 p.m. A loss will end the season for Southeast.