SE SOCCER LOSES LATE LEAD, FALLS TO DRURY

Southeast Missouri State University's women's soccer team was a little more than five minutes away from keeping its undefeated record intact Friday night.

But a late Drury rally that saw the Panthers score two goals in the final 5:10 of the game resulted in a 2-1 Southeast loss in front of nearly 300 fans at Houck Stadium.

The Otahkians, in their second season of play, thus suffered their first loss of the young campaign as they fell to 2-1-1. Drury, located in Springfield, Mo., claimed its first victory of the year and improved to 1-4-1.

"I think we finally had a fire lit under us," said Drury coach Ann Cook. "We realized we were about to face our fifth loss of the year. We felt some urgency and we got it going."

Drury, in its second season as an NCAA Division I soccer program, had faced a brutal early schedule, losing to nationally-ranked Saint Louis and Nebraska.

"We've played some tough teams, but it's good to finally get the first one," Cook said. "It was a nail-biter, definitely a very even game, a lot of back and forth play. We were fortunate at the end to come up with it."

Otahkian coach Heather Nelson figured going in that Friday's affair would be closely contested.

"I thought it would be a one-goal game," she said. "I knew it would be a battle."

Southeast scored the only goal of the first half with 12:20 left before the intermission when Nichole Thiele took a pass from Valerie Henderson and, from a tough angle from about 12 yards out to the right of the goal, snuck a shot just inside the left post.

"I thought the first 45 minutes was the best half we've played in the history of our program," said Nelson. "I thought the first half was ours and the second half was theirs."

The Otahkians kept their 1-0 advantage until the late stages of the final half. With 5:10 remaining, Adrienne Madison put a shot past Southeast goalkeeper Tami Hebert from in close, tying the contest at 1-1.

Then, with just 3:26 left to play in regulation, Drury broke the deadlock when a shot by Meghan Kelly from about 30 yards out was inadvertently re-directed by a Southeast player and found its way past Hebert. That tally stood up as the game-winner.

"That last goal was kind of a fluke," Nelson said. "It was re-directed, otherwise Tami would have had it."

Some of the final statistics reflected just how evenly played the game was. The Panthers had a slight edge in total shots, 19 to 15, while Hebert made seven saves and Drury keeper Sarah Reichert recorded six saves.