Nelson will get first look at soccer team during Saturday's exhibition

Southeast Missouri State women's soccer coach Heather Nelson will get to see her 2005 team against outside competition for the first time Saturday when the Redhawks play the St. Louis Soccer Club in a 7:30 p.m. exhibition game at Houck Stadium.

"It's always good to go up against another team," said Nelson, whose squad began practice Thursday. "We need to determine the conditioning of our team members and work on our system of play.

"We may go to a three-forward attack this season, but we need to find out how our players respond and work together."

Southeast, which was 11-6-2 overall last year and tied for fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference at 3-3-2, has eight newcomers on its 20-player roster.

While several key players return, including leading scorer Molli Beard and second-team all-OVC pick Megan Hejlek, Nelson will be looking for offensive punch from several freshman, including highly touted Casey Kraft, a 5-foot-11 midfielder from St. Louis.

"We tried to recruit some players who can create goal-scoring opportunities, and I think we were successful," said Nelson, entering her seventh season at Southeast. "Casey Kraft is a great athlete who has size. We think she will be a real scoring threat."

Another newcomer of note is Lindsay Pickering, a softball player at Southeast who has joined the soccer program as a goalkeeper, where she will be challenged by freshman Gianna Logston.

The Redhawks have their final exhibition match Aug. 19 against J.B. Marine from St. Louis. They open the regular season Aug. 26 in the Austin Peay Tournament.

"This is the most versatile group of athletes we have had at Southeast. We can play most of the players in multiple positions," Nelson said. "It will be important during the early practices and the exhibition game to find which combination of players does the best job."

Volleyball tabbed for fourth

The Southeast volleyball team has been picked to finish fourth in the OVC this season in voting by the league's 11 head coaches.

Eastern Kentucky is the favorite after taking a share of last year's OVC regular-season title and winning the league tournament. The Colonels received seven first-place votes and 97 points.

Jacksonville State, second in the conference last year, picked up the other four first-place votes and 91 points for second place, followed by co-defending champion Eastern Illinois with 79 points.

Southeast received 65 points, followed by Austin Peay (60), Morehead State (57), Tennessee Tech (51), Tennessee-Martin (40), Samford (26), Murray State (25) and Tennessee State (14).

Southeast tied for fourth place in the OVC last year with a 9-7 record, and the Redhawks finished 11-17 overall.

They have a new coach as former Southeast assistant Renata Nowacki takes over for Cindy Gannon, who moved into a full-time administrative role at the university.

The Redhawks had one player voted to the preseason all-OVC team, as junior Jessica Koeper made the first squad. Koeper, a Jackson High School graduate, was a second-team all-conference selection last year, when she led Southeast in kills.

Southeast opens the season at the Clarion Hotel Missouri State Invitational in Springfield, Mo., on August 26. The Redhawks have a home exhibition match Aug. 20 against a Southeast alumni team.

Baseball adds juco pitcher

Southeast baseball coach Mark Hogan has announced another signing, as junior college pitcher Asif Shah will join the Redhawks this year.

Shah, a left-hander from Cincinnati, Ohio, was 6-2 with a 3.14 earned run average last season for Wabash Valley (Ill.) Community College. He also played the outfield at Wabash, batting .315 with two home runs, 14 doubles and 39 RBIs.

"He will play immediately for us," Hogan said. "He's a talented left-hander who will contribute to the pitching staff, and he'll provide us more depth in the outfield."