Southeast Missouri State soccer team defeats Murray State with late goal

After enduring a late loss against the University of Tennessee-Martin on Friday, it was only fitting that the Southeast Missouri State soccer team bounced back with a late goal to beat a conference rival Sunday.

With 11 minutes to play in a tied game against Murray State, Southeast sophomore Natasha Minor found a wide-open Breana Beine dashing to the middle of the box. Minor's pass to Beine was nearly perfect, so much so that the senior did not have to slow down on her run, ripping a shot into the bottom left corner for a go-ahead goal.

Southeast (5-4, 2-1) dodged any late scoring attempts Murray State (6-7, 2-2) threw its way and held on for a 2-1 victory at Houck Stadium.

"It was a great goal and a perfect ball from Natasha," Beine said. "It's big for us, especially coming off a tough loss last game to get this win. We feel like we still have a long way to go, but it's nice to score late and win for a change."

The Redhawks' win over the Racers marked another milestone for the program. Southeast coach Heather Nelson notched her 150th career win since starting the program in 1999.

Southeast Missouri State’s Natasha Minor, left, tries to kick the ball while being pressured by Murray State’s Halle Pinkham during the first half Sunday at Houck Stadium. The Redhawks won 1-0. More photos from the game can be viewed at semoball.com. (Fred Lynch)

"It's pretty cool, but it's a real credit to the players I've had over this time period," Nelson said about reaching the win total. "I'll take the credit for recruiting the kids, but I have to give them the credit for the wins. Every team I've coached here has shared the love of the game the way I do, so to be here with this program and get that, it really is a big deal to me."

In her 16th season as Southeast's coach, Nelson is averaging close to 10 wins a season.

"As a college coach that's always what you're trying to look for," Nelson said. "That's always a good season in my mind when you can get 10 wins."

The Redhawks wasted little time to grab an early 1-0 lead.

Southeast already had three shots on goal and were looking to capitalize on a corner kick in the fourth minute. Southeast junior Jenna Collinridge sent the long cross from the corner to Kasey Crowden, who was 5 feet from the goal line. Crowden jumped above three Murray State defenders and sent a headball past Murray State goalie Shelby Haworth, who had no chance to make a save.

"It's just a mentality thing. You have to make sure you win the ball and get there first," Crowden said. "It's the same for everyone else out there on the field with me, because we were attacking early and I think that really boosted our confidence."

The Redhawks continued to attack in the first half.

Beine had another chance to score off a rebound in the 30th minute, but her shot was tipped over the crossbar by Haworth.

Seven minutes later Minor crossed another pass to Beine, but her shot was right at Haworth, who made the easy save.

It appeared that Southeast would cruise into halftime with a one goal lead, however a penalty in the box against the Redhawks, their second in two games, set up a penalty kick for the Racers.

St. Louis native and Murray State senior Julie Mooney scored on the shot for the Racers to tie the score at 1-1 12 minutes before halftime.

"It was similar to Friday in that I'm not sure it should have been called, but we can't control those kinds of things," Nelson said. "It's just unfortunate because our defense played a phenomenal game, so for us to have to go through that again can break a team. Luckily it didn't."

Southeast goalie Kindra Lierz brushed off the goal, shutting down the Racers the remainder of the game. The freshman made eight saves, including three big ones after Southeast took the lead.

Mooney found an opening in the Redhawks' defense and took the ball all the way to the top of the Southeast box after receiving a pass from teammate Bronagh Kerins. Mooney took a shot near the penalty kick marker, but Lierz made a diving save to keep the Redhawks ahead.

"I was kind of getting worried because we needed to clear it out and keep it down on their end with a little time left, but my team listened to me," Lierz said. "Even though it was on our end, we were able to contain them and not let them score."

Two minutes later Mooney crossed a pass to Harriet Withers, but the Redhawks' defense immediately pressured her and only allowed a shot that Lierz easily saved.

Mooney had one more good attempt to score with 30 seconds remaining. She dribbled near the Southeast box, but Southeast defender Christina Rohde swarmed her and forced Mooney to take an off-balance shot that went over the goal.

"Goals change games, so when we went up 2-1 they had to go for it with nothing to lose," Nelson said. "Julie Mooney is right at the top of the charts as far as shots taken and goals scored, so she on her own can do a lot, but we shut her down when we had to, which helped us win."

Southeast will return to action 6:30 p.m. Friday when it hosts Austin Peay.