Southeast Missouri State soccer team has diversity in its leadership

Something one of her favorite soccer coaches said in high school has stuck with Southeast Missouri State soccer coach Heather Nelson, who is entering her 16th season at the helm of the program.

The phrase "Diversity breeds success" is what Nelson recalls when discussing the different types of leaders she has on this year's team, something she feels is critical each year but will greatly help the 2014 team that has nine newcomers and opens its season Sunday against UT-Martin in a nonconference match.

"[She] had this saying that she lived by or coached by, which was 'Diversity breeds success' and that we were to respect and really take the time to get to know other people and see their strengths to make sure that as an entire team we were performing at a high level on and off the field," Nelson said.

Seniors Torey and Taylor Byrd, Kasey Crowden and junior Erin Shulman each embody that phrase when it comes to their different styles of leadership that the young Redhawks team needs.

Torey Byrd, who was the recipient of the Director of Athletics Leadership award at Southeast last year, has the ability to lead by example as well as vocally, according to Nelson.

Southeast Missouri State forward Erin Shulman leaps up for a header during an exhibtion game last season against Saint Louis University. (Southeast Missourian file)

Her sister Taylor only played one game last season due to a knee injury. However, Nelson said she motivates teammates and will go out of her way to run and workout with others to make sure they're as fit as needed, and displays her dedication to the team by doing what is asked of her.

"Taylor is the kind of athlete that will run through a brick wall for you," Nelson said. "If I asked her to do it, she would not question it. She would just say, basically, 'How fast?' or 'How much do you want me to knock down?' and she would do it."

Shulman, who is in her fourth season at Southeast after receiving a medical redshirt two years ago after a knee injury, is a "spark plug," according to Nelson.

"She wants nothing but to win everything that she does," Nelson said. "That sheer intensity is always a very valuable asset to our entire team, especially when we have younger players coming into the program."

Nelson said Crowden is a different type of leader than the other three, but equally as important to the growth of this year's team.

"She is, I would have to say, my most quiet, polite player within her whole class -- maybe within the whole team," Nelson said about Crowden, a Jackson graduate. "But when something needs to be said she will do it in her own way and in her own time. I really value her genuine nature and her honesty, and I guess in a lot of ways that gentleness, because we need a variety of personalities and characters in our program to make sure that everybody's performing at their highest level, and Kasey fills that role for us."

The Redhawks obviously will need more than just leadership to have success on the field, but Nelson believes the talent level of the team is high, and the key will be to get everyone playing as a unit, and those four are helping to make sure that happens.

"I think this team has an opportunity to be one of the best teams that I've coached here in 16 years," Nelson said. "There'll be a lot that needs to happen over the next matter of weeks to see if that will actually come to be because it's my job really to get everyone on the same page.

"If you've been coaching long enough there's basically an understanding that you go through a process where you first 'form' when you arrive and then you go through a storming process -- and we're in the middle of the storm right now, without a doubt -- where players have to find their roles and they have to understand what they bring to the team and what they need to work on, and what their value is. Not just if they're a starter, but total value.

"When we get through that process then we'll get to what's called norming, which will be playing at a pretty consistent level, and then it will really be up to our coaching staff to make sure that we get to a performing level. If we get there with this group, then I think they can do amazing things this year."

Nelson expects this team to be in the thick of both the regular-season and Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship. The program's last OVC regular-season championship came in 2011, when the Redhawks went 8-1 in conference play.

"We have some extremely talented kids on the ball that can do some things like play balls in tight spaces...really things that require a ton of touch and that they've put years into training to develop those skills. We have more kids like that," Nelson said. "I think we have more players in terms of players that can actually create and finish goal-scoring chances than I've had since we won a championship with [Lauren] Bozesky, and Jesse Crabtree and when Erin Shulman [was a freshman] and we had those three up front. I think we can be at a very similar level to that team."

Crowden and Shulman as well as first-team All-OVC selection Natasha Minor and Breana Beine return and will be scoring threats for Southeast.

Shulman and Minor tied for a team-best four goals last season. Beane, who had transferred from the University of Evansville, and Crowden each scored two.

Shulman could also see time on the back line as an outside defender where Nelson likes her versatility because "she'll be flying forward and she can still do all the business in the back."

The defense returns second-team All-OVC center back Christina Rohde and outside back Paige Luehmann. Junior transfer Valeria Jaramillo from Colombia and freshmen Maddy Cornell and Paige Blankenheim likely will get minutes on defense.

Another addition to the defense is freshman goalkeeper Kindra Lierz -- the only goalkeeper on the team -- who Nelson said fans will love to watch.

"She's sort of a heart-stopping type of performer because she plays further off her line than any keeper I've had in 20 years of coaching," Nelson said. "She's more talented with her feet and she, as a result of that, will probably end up getting some assists this year. She's going to be very exciting to watch play."

Southeast went 0-2 in exhibition games -- suffering a 1-0 loss to Lipscomb and 3-1 to St. Louis University.

The Redhawks' season will kick off against the Skyhawks at 2 p.m. Sunday in Martin, Tennessee. The match will not count toward conference standings.

"It kind of helps the freshmen because conference play is like a whole different [type of] play than season play," Shulman said. "Having that conference team, although it's not conference play, will help us realize that conference is very intense...and very physical, and you have to, like, literally put everything out every single game. I think it'll be a good adjustment for everyone to see how it is and open their eyes to how conference is going to be."

UT-Martin is the two-time defending regular season conference champion. It won the OVC tournament in 2011 and 2012.

"UT-Martin is always a fun game because it's always really scrappy. Both teams are extremely aggressive and both teams are extremely talented," Torey Byrd said. "It's always an exciting game, and to start with it is actually kind of awesome because that will kick our butts in gear right at the beginning."