Red card helps UT Martin defeat Southeast soccer team

For a moment it looked as though the Southeast Missouri State soccer team had taken away the momentum from the University of Tennessee at Martin.

With five minutes left to play in a one-goal game, Southeast senior Torey Byrd made a quick move past a defender to get into open space, making way for a perfect crossing pass from Natasha Minor, which she one-timed into the back of the net to tie the game.

But Southeast's celebration didn't last long.

Less than two minutes later, Amy Maksimowicz stole a pass at midfield and dribbled it down the left side of the field without a Redhawks defender in sight. Maksimowicz took the ball into the box then took a shot over Southeast goalie Kindra Lierz, who attempted to come out near the top of the box to make a save. Lierz was too late as the ball sailed over her head and into the top right corner for the go-ahead goal.

Southeast (4-4, 1-1) could not create another scoring chance in the final two minutes of the game and fell to the Ohio Valley Conference's defending regular-season champion UT Martin (8-4, 2-1) 2-1 on Friday at Houck Stadium.

Byrd said she thought the Redhawks played well despite the late loss.

"It may have seemed like we just lost the Ohio Valley Conference championship tonight, and I think a lot of us felt that way after the game," Byrd said. "But we played amazing tonight, and I told them all in the huddle that we still have a lot of games left to play, anything can happen in OVC."

The Redhawks looked like the dominant team throughout most of the game, outshooting the Skyhawks 8-6 in the game.

Breana Beine had a breakaway just one minute into the game and a chance to score until a Skyhawks' defender came in to block Biene's shot.

Later in the first with 12 minutes to play, Paige Luhman crossed a ball to Byrd. The senior dribbled for a step then took a shot that was right at UT Martin goalie Mariah Klenke, who made the save.

Beine had another chance to score with five minutes remaining in the first. She received a pass from Minor then dazzled a defender by kicking the ball right between her legs. Beine only had the goalie to beat, but Klenke came out near the top of the box and prevented Beine from getting a clean shot off.

"I thought we did a great job of moving the ball from side to side and creating attacks in their end in the first half," Southeast coach Heather Nelson said. "We didn't get as many shots as we would've liked to out of it, but the possession in the attacking third of the field was there and it continued throughout the night for us."

Southeast continued its heavy attacking game with three shots on goal in the first five minutes of the second half, including two from Beine, but each one went wide of the net or was saved by Klenke.

"We're all starting to connect more, and I really think that showed in tonight's game," Beine said. "The midfield and forwards are really connecting and finding each other open, most of those chances were built from talking and communicating. We definitely took a step in the right direction even if it was a loss."

The Redhawks defense remained efficient, preventing any UT Martin threats until there were 12 minutes remaining in the game.

The Skyhawks took a corner kick that went past the Redhawks' box, but UT Martin forward Rianna Jarrett corralled it on the other end. Jarrett dribbled the ball past a few Southeast defenders and took a shot. Lierz was thrown off by the cross and not in a position to make a save, but Southeast defender Paige Luehmann was.

Luehmann appeared to make the save on the goal line with her upper body, instead the referee called a handball on Luehmann and gave the junior a red card, which set up a penalty kick for the Skyhawks.

"Paige felt like it had hit off of her shoulder, but the official said to me that he saw it hit part of her arm," Nelson said. "I asked him to explain it because it wasn't obvious to me, most of the time in that situation you see a player with their arm out to prevent a goal, Paige didn't do that. She was making every effort to get her body to where it need to be, it was just unlucky."

Jarrett took the penalty kick for the Skyhawks, and scored to give UT Martin a 1-0 lead.

"You always want to save those, but it's a guess every time," Lierz said. "I guessed she would go right, but her shot was straight on. It sucks that we were even in that spot because we shouldn't have been."

Southeast will take on Murray State at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Houck Stadium. Nelson said her team has a lot to build off of heading into their game against the Racers.

"Everyone played well tonight, our offense is rolling, our defense was stout, we were just unlucky." Nelson said. "If we execute the way we did tonight, there is no doubt in my mind that we will beat some good teams and be a force in our conference."