SE DROPS EXHIBITION GAME TO BUSCH 6-2

Southeast Missouri State University women's soccer coach Heather Nelson was not all that concerned about the score of her team's exhibition game Saturday night.

Even though the Otahkians suffered a 6-2 loss to the Busch Soccer Club from St. Louis in front of more than 400 fans at Houck Stadium, Nelson figures they'll benefit greatly from the experience.

"I purposely set up our preseason to be a challenge to us," said Nelson, whose squad will be entering its second season of play. "If we took it easy, we wouldn't be able to identify our weaknesses.

"The Busch Club is a very good team that moves the ball very quickly. It was a good learning experience for us."

Busch is made up of high school players, but don't think the Otahkians lost to some rag-tag team. The squad features primarily the premier 18-under players in the St. Louis area and most figure to be heavily recruited.

"Actually, SEMO is maybe a little better than what we expected," said Busch coach Steve Pecher, for years a professional soccer standout in St. Louis. "Heather is going in the right direction with her program. She got a great recruiting class."

Southeast's inaugural season of women's soccer last year featured a 4-8-1 overall record and a 2-2-1 Ohio Valley Conference mark as the Otahkians finished tied for third in the six-team league.

Nelson, the 1999 OVC Coach of the Year, is looking for even more improvement this season.

"I have high hopes for this team. I'm really excited," she said. "I feel like I have players who can finish. Last year, Nichole (Thiele) was basically our only finisher. It won't be as easy for the defense to key on her this year."

Thiele, by far Southeast's leading scorer last year with eight goals, scored Saturday night, as did freshman Valerie Henderson (on a penalty kick), who is part of what Nelson regards as a talented recruiting class. Julie Wunderlich, a freshman from Jackson High School, earned an assist on Thiele's goal.

But Busch was simply too strong for the Otahkians as the visitors piled up a 4-0 halftime lead. Thiele and Henderson scored in the second half to give the crowd something to cheer about, but Busch tacked on two more goals before the game was over.

Lisa Stephens and Katie Jo Spisak each tallied twice for Busch while Jamie Perry and Lisa Schweppe had the other goals.

Southeast goal keeper Tami Hebert was kept busy all night as she made 20 saves, several of the spectacular variety. Otherwise, Busch would have probably reached double figures in goals. Busch keeper Anne Marbarger needed to make only five saves.

The Otahkians might be counting on Hebert much more than originally planned. Beth Guccione, last year's all-OVC goalie, had offseason shoulder surgery and it was thought she would be back by September.

But Nelson said Saturday that Guccione has been slower to recover than had been expected and she could very well miss the entire season.