Southeast freshman pulls off feat no one else has

Freshman Kindra Lierz, Southeast Missouri State's women's soccer goalkeeper, did what no other player in the Ohio Valley Conference had done before.

At the OVC Soccer Championship banquet on Wednesday, Nov. 5, Lierz was named the OVC Defensive Player of the Year as well as Freshman of the Year, marking the first time that a player walked away with both pieces of hardware in the same season.

The accolades did not end there, however.

Lierz also earned first-team All-OVC honors and was named to the OVC All-Newcomer Team.

"I was really excited that I got the Newcomer Team, but as they kept saying them [the awards], I was like 'How are they picking me, and why are they picking me?'" Lierz said.

The answers to Lierz's questions lie in the numbers and her talent. She led the OVC in goals against average (0.70), shutouts (8) and finished second in the conference in save percentage (.853).

Lierz's individual numbers were also enough to propel Southeast to the top of the leaderboards in the OVC in categories such as goals against average, shutouts and goals allowed.

"You know, I couldn't be happier for her," Southeast coach Heather Nelson said. "I just all around, I feel like I'm blessed to know her as a person and an athlete."

Lierz upheld a tradition of good goaltending at Southeast, but as a freshman, that was no easy task.

"Coach wanted me to come in as like a senior, she wanted me to have the attitude of a senior," Lierz said. "So me coming in, I knew I had to step it up as a freshman, not act like a freshman in goal, become a leader right away as I was coming in, and I think I took the role on right as my coach wanted me to."

"She gets it," Nelson said. "She wants to be an elite level goalkeeper. I wouldn't say she loves it when we have to push her hard, but she works hard because she understands that it's what she has to do to achieve everything she has in mind to achieve."

Before the awards, Lierz had to go from a high school student to a starting goalkeeper at a Division I soccer program, which is no small task.

"I came off of club play in high school, which is completely different from Division I sports. Division I is the top athletes in the nation that you're going up against and trying hard," Lierz said of her transition. "Basically, the very first game I just looked up to all my upperclassmen just to see how they got ready for a game, and then I got into my own little rhythm," Lierz said.

The Redhawks opened the season with two exhibition matches against Saint Louis University and Lipscomb and went 0-2 in those games and gave up four goals.

Lierz notched her first shutout of the season against the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and went on a roll from there.

"You know, I think when they went away and played in Colorado, I really had an opportunity to see her under a considerable amount of pressure," Nelson said. "I was pretty confident at that time that she was going to be a force to be reckoned with in the OVC."

During the Redhawks' road trip to Colorado for the Falcon Invitational early in the season, Lierz allowed one goal in two games while picking up her second shutout of the year.

Throughout her award-studded season, Lierz said she never took a single moment for granted in net for the Redhawks.

"I feel like every game I got to play was very special because coach could have found someone else along the way, but she believed in me and my team believed in me, so I got to play as much as I can and I tried my hardest in every game," Lierz said.

Lierz credits her teammates for the success she has had on the field since her career started at the beginning of the season.

"I credit my team," Lierz said. "My team, because we all had to work together. The best teams usually have great team chemistry, and that's what we had this year. My team is unbelievable, they helped me throughout the way and if I needed help understanding something they were there to help me understand it and push me to drive. So my team was one of the biggest helps."

The Redhawks ended the regular season earning a share of the OVC regular season title going 11-6 overall.

"I think as a team, having her in the net, everyone is more confident knowing we have someone so consistent back there, so it brings the confidence level up for the whole team," senior forward Breana Beine said of Lierz.

According to Nelson, Lierz has not only been a benefit to the team on the field, but off the field as well.

"She's just an amazing personality to be around," Nelson said. "She's got this huge upside and she loves life. I just think, personally, she's infectious in a positive way."

Now that the season is over, Lierz gets to enjoy a little bit of down time before she is back at it for her second year of work in goal.

"Well right now we're relaxing in the very beginning [of the offseason]," Lierz said. "But here in about a month or two we'll be back into it."