COLLEGE SOCCER: OTAHKIANS FALL IN OVC TOURNAMENT

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- A heart-breaking loss in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament has ended the season for Southeast Missouri State University's women's soccer team.

Morehead State scored with less than two minutes remaining to stun the Otahkians 2-1 Friday afternoon in a first-round tourney game at Eastern Illinois University's Lakeside Field.

The Eagles (9-9-1), who had finished in a three-way tie with Southeast and Murray State for third place in the six-team league, advances to play top-seeded Eastern Illinois in today's semifinals.

Southeast ends the season with a 10-6-1 overall record after winning just four games during its inaugural season of play last year.

Morehead State, which avenged a 2-0 loss to Southeast in last year's OVC Tournament and beat the Otahkians for the first time in four meetings, got a goal from Alison Connley with 1:44 remaining to break a 1-1 tie.

The Otahkians, trailing 1-0 at halftime, knotted things with just 4:27 remaining in regulation as Nichole Thiele scored her 13th goal of the season, with an assist from Karen Schmitt. But the Eagles tallied less than three minutes later.

* Despite Friday's season-ending loss, the Otahkians placed five players on the all-OVC team that was announced earlier in the day after being voted on by the league's six head coaches.

Receiving first-team honors for Southeast were junior forward Thiele, freshman forward Erika Todd and freshman midfielder Valerie Henderson.

Thiele, a Cape Girardeau Central High School product who was also named first-team all-OVC last year, and Todd each scored 13 goals to lead the Otahkians this season.

Sophomore defenders Stephanie Bleau and Jenny Hamilton were placed on the second team while freshman defender Jen Cross was an honorable-mention selection.

A notable omission from the all-conference list is senior goalkeeper Tami Hebert, who leads the OVC with eight shutouts.

OVC regular-season champion Eastern Illinois virtually swept the individual awards as Devon Bissell (Player of the Year), Beth Liesen (Freshman of the Year) and Steve Ballard (Coach of the Year) were all honored.

Tennessee Tech's Kelli McCoy was named Defensive Player of the Year.