Southeast gets early test, wins exhibition in shootout

Southeast Missouri State women's soccer coach Heather Nelson had never scheduled an exhibition contest so soon after beginning practice.

But with eight newcomers on her 20-player roster, she figured the sooner she could evaluate the Redhawks in game conditions, the better.

"It's the earliest we've ever played, but with more than a third turnover on our roster, I wanted to get an idea of what we have," Nelson said.

Nelson saw some good and some bad -- but plenty of potential -- Saturday night at Houck Stadium during a 3-2 victory in penalty kicks over the St. Louis Soccer Club under-17 team.

The squads were tied 2-2 through regulation, and Southeast converted three of its five penalty kicks, while St. Louis made two of five.

"I thought we showed at times we can put a lot of offensive pressure on the other team," Nelson said. "We have a lot of work to do, but I think we have a ton of potential."

Nelson was impressed with the St. Louis squad, comprised primarily of high school juniors, many of whom figure to be top-level Division I recruits.

"They're a very good team," she said. "The kind of speed they had up front was good for us. We won't see anything that fast in the conference."

Southeast never led in regulation. St. Louis went ahead about 9 minutes into the first half with a goal by the speedy Alyssa Mautz. The Redhawks countered 8 minutes later as freshman Casey Kraft scored, with assists from senior Lisa Schweppe and sophomore Margie Schaeffler.

Mautz scored again with 18 minutes remaining in the second half to put St. Louis ahead 2-1, but Southeast countered with just under 10 minutes remaining on a goal by freshman Nicole Bussman. Senior Ashley DeRoy assisted.

"I think we have some very good freshmen," Nelson said. "Two of them scored our goals, and two of our seniors got assists."

Junior Molli Beard, sophomore Lauren Costello and Kraft scored in penalty kicks for the Redhawks. Kraft had the game-winner after the PK session was tied 2-2.

The Redhawks have two more home exhibition tests next weekend, playing St. Louis J.B. Marine at 7:30 p.m. Friday and a Southeast alumni squad at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The season opens Aug. 26 in the Austin Peay Tournament.