OTAHKIANS CLAIM HOME FINALE OVER TENNESSEE-MARTIN

Southeast Missouri State University's women's soccer team put an impressive cap on the home schedule of the program's inaugural season.

The Otahkians created all kinds of solid scoring chances and posted a 3-1 victory over Tennessee-Martin in front of about 225 fans at Houck Stadium Tuesday night.

Southeast improved to 2-6-1 overall and 2-1-1 in Ohio Valley Conference play as the Otahkians moved into a second-place tie in the six-team league. UTM is 0-17 overall, 0-4 in the OVC.

"It's nice to win our last home game because we've had great fan support all year," said Southeast coach Heather Nelson.

The Otahkians have just an 11-game schedule this year, with only three of those matches at home. Nelson is already licking her chops for what will be a much fuller schedule next season.

"We're going to have 10 home games and about 18 or 19 total," she said. "We can't wait for next year."

Of course, the Otahkians still have high hopes for this season, which includes two more regular-season games and then the OVC Tournament.

"The conference is pretty wide open this year," Nelson said. "We can still finish high (in the regular season) and I think anybody can win the tournament."

Jenny Hamilton had two goals and one assist to lead the Otahkians Tuesday night. Hamilton very nearly came up with a hat trick but two excellent opportunities in the late going missed the mark.

"I should have made it. I had good chances," said Hamilton. "But I'm glad we played well. We created a lot of opportunities."

Nichole Thiele had a goal and an assist. She also could have scored several more goals as she created strong scoring chances all night.

"I was happy with our team performance," Nelson said. "We had a lot of chances. We were frustrated against Tennessee Tech (a 1-0 loss on Oct. 10) because we couldn't finish. We spent the week shooting and I think it paid off."

Hamilton scored the only goal of the first half on a penalty kick at about the midway point.

Hamilton made it 2-0 after taking a pass from Thiele and scoring on a breakaway with just over 18 minutes left in the game.

Six minutes later, Hamilton took a great pass from Dana Eakins but hit the left post with a shot. However, Thiele was there to put in the rebound.

UTM broke Southeast goalie Beth Guccione's shutout bid when Kelli Armstrong scored with under 10 minutes to play.

Guccione made eight saves while two UTM goalies combined for 14 saves.

The Otahkians visit Arkansas-Little Rock Saturday.