Southeast drops first-place showdown to Morehead State

Southeast Missouri State soccer coach Heather Nelson thought the Redhawks didn't play with nearly enough effort.

Morehead State coach Warren Lipka thought the Eagles brought plenty of fire to Sunday's game at Houck Stadium.

That made for a bad combination from Southeast's end as the Eagles rolled to a 3-0 victory in the showdown for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference.

"I didn't think our effort was nearly good enough," said Nelson, whose squad had a three-game winning streak snapped. "It's a good lesson for our team. We needed to come out firing, and we didn't. We didn't bring the energy level, certainly not like we did Friday [a 1-0 home win against Eastern Kentucky]."

Morehead improved to 7-6-1 overall and 4-0-1 in the OVC as it solidified its hold on first place.

Morehead State players celebrate their second goal during the second half of Sunday's game at Houck Stadium as Southeast Missouri State players look on. (Laura Simon)

The Eagles have 13 points (teams receive three points for a win and one point for a tie in conference games).

Southeast fell to 7-6 overall and 3-2 in the OVC. The Redhawks remained tied for second place with nine points. A win would have lifted them into first place.

"We knew we were coming into a tough environment and we had to be prepared. I thought we were," said Lipka, whose squad tied for last year's OVC regular-season title.

The Eagles were coming off Friday's 0-0 draw at Eastern Illinois, which made Sunday's contest even more important.

"It's the way the conference is, you go on the road, it's tough to get points," Lipka said. "Our goal was to get points this weekend.

Southeast Missouri State's Ali Bauer heads the ball in front of Morehead's Brittany Kiracofe during the second half Sunday.

"We had our chances Friday. Their goalie played very well. Today they happened to go in. That's the way soccer is."

After a scoreless first half that featured few strong chances by either side, the Eagles turned up the pressure.

Morehead kept the ball in Southeast's end for the early part of the final period and finally broke through.

Junior Sarah Phillip lofted a chip from about 25 yards away along the left side.

Phillip's intention was to set up a teammate but the ball found the upper right corner of the net behind freshman goalkeeper Ashton Aubuchon with 35 minutes, 19 seconds left.

"She was trying to hit it to the back post. It happened to go in," Lipka said.

The Eagles put the game away with two goals in the final 14 minutes.

Senior Erin Adams notched her OVC-leading 11th goal of the season with 13:44 left as she headed in a corner from junior Samantha Corman.

Junior Brittany MacLennan then blasted a shot that went off Aubuchon's hands and trickled into the net with 5:34 remaining.

"They're a good team," Nelson said. "Their forwards are dangerous, and they capitalized on their chances."

The Eagles also dominated defensively as senior goalkeeper Lily Meisner was not forced to make a save. Morehead outshot Southeast 14-8.

"They defended us well. We didn't have very many opportunities," Nelson said.

Southeast, which played its third straight home game, returns to action Sunday at Tennessee Tech.