Otahkians fall in exhibition

With only three days of practice under its belt, Southeast Missouri State University's soccer team showed its rust Sunday night at Houck Stadium in a 3-1 exhibition loss to the Busch-Hopfinger under-18 select soccer club of St. Louis.

The Otahkians, who bring back 10 starters from last year's team that won their second straight Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title, looked strong early before Busch took control of the game late in the first half.

"There's definitely a lot of things we need to work on," said assistant coach Beth Guccione, who is running the team while head coach Heather Nelson completes work toward her master's degree at a college in Canada.

Sophomore defender Mary Kalinowski gave Southeast an early 1-0 lead with a goal from 30 yards out. Busch grabbed the momentum with a pair of near misses midway through the half, including hitting a crossbar before scoring three times over the last 20 minutes of the first half.

Cassandra Winchell, a high school senior from St. Peters, Mo., scored a pair of goals off of lobs over the defense.

"They just weren't picking it up quick enough," Guccione said of the defense.

The defense will be under pressure this season with the loss of two-time OVC Defender of the Year Jenny Hamilton due to graduation. Junior Heather Reding was a first team All-OVC performer last year and will be expected to pick up the slack.

"We just have to learn from it," Reding said of Sunday's loss, attended by approximately 75 fans.

Despite the loss, Southeast was able to get its freshmen significant playing time and dabbled with several different looks.

"We had some new girls playing in new positions," Guccione said.

Freshman Caitlin Huber was one of several Busch products playing for Southeast Sunday.

Huber said it was strange playing against her former club team but her new teammates have made the transition from high school to college painless.

"I think it will be easy," she said. "They're all real motivational."

Huber is among five freshmen fighting for playing time.

"They played well," Guccione said of the freshmen. "Just getting them accustomed to our system is going to take more than three days."

Southeast's local products, Jackson natives Julie Wunderlich and Erin Hartmann, were in the starting lineup for Southeast. Midfielders Ashley DeRoy, Jen Cross and freshman Molli Beard sat out the game with minor injuries.

Southeast has two exhibition games remaining before the regular-season opener Aug. 29 against Ohio at the University of Illinois tournament. The Otahkians will play at St. Louis University at 7 p.m. Friday and then face J.B. Marine-Dillinger select team at 7 p.m. Sunday at Houck Stadium.

jjoffray@semissourian.com

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