Conference tourney begins action today

Even though Southeast Missouri State University women's soccer team tore through the Ohio Valley Conference without a loss this year, coach Heather Nelson knows the Otahkians won't have it easy as they try to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

The Otahkians, by virtue of winning their first-ever OVC regular-season championship in just their third year as a program, will host the league tournament this weekend at Houck Stadium.

Top-seeded Southeast (15-1 overall, 5-0 OVC) plays No. 4 Murray State (8-8-2, 2-3) today at 7 p.m., following a game between No. 1 Eastern Illinois (12-5, 4-1) and No. 3 Tennessee Tech (12-6, 3-2) at 4:30 p.m. The finals are at 2 p.m. Sunday, with the winner earning an NCAA berth.

"I think come tournament time, any team has a possibility of ending their season that day," said Nelson. "It will be intense and I'm looking for good games."

While the Otahkians did not lose an OVC match this year -- they outscored their five league opponents 16-0 -- defending regular-season champion Eastern Illinois lost to Southeast just 1-0. And defending tourney champ Tennessee Tech, which fell to Southeast 2-0, is also dangerous.

"Eastern Illinois and Tennessee Tech both very strong teams," Nelson said. "We played very well against Tennessee Tech when we played them here. We had one heck of a battle with Eastern at their place, but the conditions were very bad. It was cold and rainy, so they haven't really seen our team yet."

Nelson is also a bit wary of Murray State, even though Southeast routed the Racers 4-0 just last Sunday in its final regular-season match.

"I don't think we'll take them lightly, even though we just beat them," she said. "They were an athletic enough team to give us problems."

While Nelson believed the Otahkians would have a strong team this year, she said she'd be lying if she thought they would have just one loss.

"The season has been phenomenal," she said. "Going into the season, I thought we'd do well but I can't honestly say I thought we'd do this well.

"Having a true senior class has really helped and the chemistry of our team has been very good. Our freshmen have done such a good job and that's real exciting because we should be strong for years to come."

Nelson believes playing the conference tournament on their home field will give the Otahkians quite a boost. Southeast has posted 12 straight victories at Houck Stadium dating back to last year and in those 12 contests the Otahkians have outscored the opposition 37-0.

"Playing at Houck is a great advantage," she said. "Our players really love playing at home."