Season's first goal eludes Southeast soccer team

The early-season slide continued for the Southeast Missouri State women's soccer team.

Not only did the Redhawks fall to 0-3 on Saturday night, they also remained scoreless as visiting Southern Illinois-Edwardsville won 1-0.

Southeast's other losses have been to Missouri State 1-0 and Army 2-0.

But Southeast coach Heather Nelson stressed patience following the game at Houck Stadium.

Southeast lost seven starters from last year's squad that captured its second straight Ohio Valley Conference tournament title, along with the OVC regular-season championship.

In addition, senior standout Casey Kraft has not been in the lineup yet because of an injury. The same goes for sophomore Vanessa Hart, a second-team all-OVC selection as a freshman.

Acknowledging that the slow start was not unexpected, Nelson said her goal all along has been to prepare the Redhawks for the start of OVC play, which is still nearly two weeks away.

"Our goal has been trying to get everybody on track by the time we hit OVC," Nelson said. "At that point, it won't matter what our record is, only if we're ready."

Nelson said she expects Kraft to return for Southeast's next game, Friday at Northern Illinois.

Hart, who originally was feared lost for the season with a knee injury, should be back within a couple of weeks.

"They'll make a significant impact on our lineup," Nelson said. "In the meantime, it's good experience for some of our other players."

SIUE (3-3), which will join the OVC for women's soccer in 2011, controlled much of the second half.

The Cougars scored the lone goal with just under 28 minutes left as Brittany Bodziak beat Southeast keeper Jessica Beckham from point-blank range.

Beckham made two nice saves late to prevent the Cougars from winning by a larger margin.

Southeast was outshot 12-4, including 8-2 in the second half. The Redhawks had no especially dangerous scoring chances.

"They're a good team," Nelson said of the Cougars. "Our experienced team last year lost to them 1-0 in the preseason."

SIUE, in its first year as a Division I program, is 2-1 against its future conference rivals. The Cougars lost to Tennessee-Martin 4-1 and beat Murray State 1-0.

"We're still learning that in Division I we need to play with intensity and an edge for the entire 90 minutes," SIUE coach Derek Burton said. "In Division II, 90 percent of the time we had more talent than the other team."