Southeast Missouri State soccer team's season ends with OT loss to Murray State

Editor's note: Southeast's record has been corrected in this story.

MURRAY, Ky. -- The Southeast Missouri State soccer team pushed the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season champion Murray State Racers further than any other team in the conference had this season.

The OVC tournament championship game went into overtime after the top-seeded Racers and sixth-seeded Redhawks were scoreless in regulation.

With a minute remaining in a 10-minute overtime period, MSU forward Harriet Withers, the OVC's Offensive Player of the Year, secured the ball on a Redhawks clearance attempt near the right sideline.

She beat two defenders before passing the ball into the middle of the box where forward Taylor Richerson was there to slot it low just inside the left post past diving goalkeeper Kindra Lierz with 52.7 seconds remaining to give the Racers the 1-0 overtime win. MSU advances to the NCAA tournament with the win.

Coach Heather Nelson saw her team fall 1-0 to Murray State on Sunday. The Redhawks finished with a 9-8-7 record.

"We spent quite a bit of time under pressure, and it was really we came in with a different gameplan," Southeast coach Heather Nelson said. "They've been so successful getting players absolutely free in behind defenses that we decided we would set in more and force them to play more in front of us, and I think we did a very good job of that. Just sometimes the ball doesn't bounce right or you don't quite get the clearance that you want on it, and it was nothing more and nothing less than that. The finish couldn't have been, I don't think, tighter in the corner, so credit to the focus on Murray State's player for coming through."

It was MSU's first overtime game against an OVC foe and the eighth for the Redhawks, who were the first sixth seed to advance to the championship game in the history of the tournament. The Redhawks had sustained a 4-1 loss to the Racers on the same field early last month in conference play.

"It's disappointing, especially me being the one that's scored on," Lierz said. "It's not the greatest thing because I always second guess, 'Could I have gotten there? Could I have done something different?' It's disappointing, but I know we tried our hardest today."

The Racers went undefeated in conference and advanced to the championship game with a 2-1 victory over No. 5 Morehead State. Withers, who has 11 goals on the season, scored both goals in that game, including the game-winner with 31 seconds left in regulation.

She was held in check by the Redhawks' defense, getting off just one shot with 11 minutes left in regulation that was easily saved by Lierz.

"We had one of our defenders marking No. 12 [Withers] on their offense, and I think that really shut her down and kept them from playing," defender Christina Rohde said. "But they just kept coming at us and coming at us, and we held off as long as we could, and unfortunately they got one slipped in at the end."

Southeast finished with five shots in the game while MSU had five in the overtime period alone.

The Redhawks finished with three shots on goal, including one by junior forward Natasha Minor 12 seconds into OT that goalkeeper Alex Steigerwald dove to her right to stop.

"We brought our whole heart here. We left it on the field," Minor said. "Murray State's a great team, and we battled, just gave it everything we could."

MSU had 19 shots in the game and seven were on goal. The Racers had 13 corners kicks while Southeast had just one.

Lierz, a sophomore who was the OVC Freshman of the Year and OVC Defender of the Year in 2014, recorded six saves.

She had three in the second half. One she dove to her left to quickly snag a shot from less than 10 yards out with 27:20 left in regulation.

Lierz slid to block a Racers shot and knock it out of bounds for a corner kick with 5:40 left in overtime.

"Really, recently down the stretch, without her playing so well in our last few games, we wouldn't have been in this position today," Nelson said about Lierz. "I do think that she actually, at the very end of our season here, is performing better than she was as a freshman, and that's exciting when she's got two more years ahead."

Southeast finished the season with a record of 9-6-7, while MSU improved to 16-4 with its 11th straight win.

The Redhawks, who reached the tournament championship for the first time since winning it in 2007, return 21 players from this year's squad, including all but one player who started the championship game.

"I think our seniors and returners have put us in a great place," Nelson said. "I also think that when you get these experiences it hurts, but it also refocuses you and leaves you hungry for more, and I completely expect the response of all of our returners will be, in time, a very positive one. And I couldn't be more excited about the players that we have coming into our program."