Elusive crown: Redhawks seek first OVC tourney title

Southeast Missouri State's soccer team has not advanced to the finals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament since 2002.

The 2005 Redhawks are intent on correcting that flaw, beginning tonight when Jacksonville State visits Houck Stadium for a 7 p.m. first-round game in the six-team tournament.

"Anything less than getting there [to the finals] would be underachieving," Southeast coach Heather Nelson said. "We're definitely talented enough. And when you get to the finals, then anything can happen."

Southeast (12-5-1, 5-3-1 OVC) finished tied for third in the 10-team conference with 16 points (squads receive three points for a win and one point for a tie in league play). The Redhawks are seeded third, while the Gamecocks (8-8-2, 4-4-1, 13 points) are seeded sixth.

Today's other first-round match features fourth-seeded Murray State (7-10-2, 5-3-1, 16 points) hosting fifth-seeded Austin Peay (9-9, 5-4, 15 points).

The opening-round winners advance to Friday's semifinals in Charleston, Ill., where top-seeded Samford (14-3-2, 7-2, 21 points) and second-seeded, host Eastern Illinois (8-9-2, 6-1-2, 19 points) await after receiving first-round byes.

A victory by the Redhawks tonight puts them in Friday's 10 a.m. semifinal against Eastern Illinois. The championship match is set for noon Sunday and will be nationally televised by ESPNU. The champion earns an NCAA Tournament berth.

"The tournament is completely wide open," Nelson said.

Eastern Illinois has won five of the six OVC Tournament titles since soccer became a conference-sponsored sport in 1999, and the Panthers have captured four straight.

Southeast, which began its program in 1999, claimed consecutive OVC regular-season titles in 2001 and 2002, thus earning the right to host the league tournament.

But the Redhawks lost to Eastern Illinois in both finals, 1-0 in 2001 and 3-2 on penalty kicks in 2002.

"We've been really close twice," Nelson said. "Hopefully this year we can finally do it."

The Redhawks have not advanced beyond the tournament semifinals the last two years, and last season didn't even make it that far as they lost to Murray State in the first round.

Southeast has this year had mixed results against the other teams in the tournament, including a 2-1 win over Jacksonville State on Oct. 14 at Houck Stadium.

The Redhawks and Eastern Illinois battled to a 0-0 tie at Houck, while three-time defending OVC regular-season champion Samford beat Southeast 3-1 at Houck.

Southeast rolled past Austin Peay 4-0 at home and won at Murray State 2-1 in overtime.

"Any team can take it. Anyone's beatable," said senior forward Lisa Schweppe, who is tied for the OVC lead in goals with nine and also tops the conference in game-winning goals with six. "We're just as good as anybody."

While the Redhawks are counting on a semifinal meeting against arch-rival Eastern Illinois, they are certainly not looking past tonight's opponent.

"Jacksonville State has a good team. They played us tough earlier in the season," Schweppe said. "We're not taking them lightly."

Eastern Illinois has edged past Samford in the past two finals, winning 2-1 on penalty kicks in 2003 and 3-2 in 2004. The Redhawks would like nothing better than to prevent the Panthers from reaching this year's title contest.

"We've had such a great rivalry with them over the years," Nelson said. "But first we have to beat Jacksonville State, which has a good team. We're looking for a tough game."