Southeast Missouri State women's soccer team settles for tie in home opener

It wasn't the home debut Southeast Missouri State sophomore goalkeeper Kindra Lierz was looking for Sunday at Houck Stadium after a decorated freshman season.

The defending Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player and Freshman of the Year yielded three goals for just the second time as a Redhawk, including a late goal in regulation that allowed Northern Iowa to escape with a 3-3 tie.

The goal, off a cornerkick, was one Lierz and Redhawks coach Heather Nelson agreed was preventable.

It was the final goal in a double-overtime game Southeast led 2-0 at halftime.

"I'm just shocked and disappointed, especially with myself, because all of those goals I made mistakes on," said Lierz , who stopped four of seven shots on goal in the game. "Overall, I'm just a little sad, disappointed because I think we could've won that game."

Southeast Missouri State's Natasha Minor works the ball against Northern Iowa's Teresa Offerman during the first period Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

Junior Angie Mann scored to put the Redhawks back on top 3-2 in the 81st minute, but 2 1/2 minutes later the Panthers scored off a corner kick to again pull even.

Nelson said a Redhawks player was in position to clear the ball but was called off by Lierz.

"It's an unwritten rule that if you can get to a ball, you don't care who calls for it, you get to it, so that's disappointing for me to have two returners [make that mistake]," Nelson said. "One, a bad call by Kindra. It should've been an away call, and as much as I'm thrilled that she wants to try and get to everything, sometimes you need teammates. And then secondly, for another member of our program to not in her mind know the right decision to overrule Kindra's call. But that being said, as a coaching staff we'll go back to the drawing board on Tuesday and ultimately whatever decisions we're not making right as a team are on our shoulders, and we will get those cleaned up, because when it gets down to it whatever mistakes they made are a reflection of us first and foremost as a coaching staff and the time that we've invested in them."

Lierz last allowed three goals Sept. 12, 2014, in a 3-0 loss to Illinois State.

UNI's Annie Dale scored six minutes into the second half when she lofted a 15-yard shot from the right over Lierz's head to cut the deficit in half.

Southeast Missouri State's Paige Blankenheim, left, is congratulated by teammate Paige Luehmann, who assisted Blankenheim with the first goal against Northern Iowa during the first period Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

The Panthers (1-0-1) evened it at 2-2 in the 68th minute on a corner kick. Lierz had the ball in her hands before it was knocked out and pushed past her into the net by Maddie Welch.

Southeast countered with Mann's goal.

Freshman Lauren Kaempfe sent a cross in from the right wing that Mann, a transfer from Central Michigan, headed past goalkeeper Whitney Blunt to give the Redhawks the 3-2 advantage with 9:55 remaining in regulation.

"That was all Lauren," Mann said. "That was just a brilliant ball, perfectly placed, and I just got my head on it and it worked out for the best."

The Panthers retied it with 7:38 remaining on the corner kick.

UNI had 15 total shots in 110 minutes.

Southeast had three shots to UNI's one during the two 10-minute overtime periods along with two corner kicks the Redhawks were unable to capitalize on.

"We just need to be more clinical closer to the box and just finding those devastating balls," said forward Natasha Minor, who finished the game with six shots and three on goal.

Nelson was pleased with her team's ability to attack the Panthers' defense, with as many as eight of the 11 Redhawks on the field moving forward into an attack at a time. Southeast finished the game with 18 shots and eight on goal.

"This definitely is the most attack-oriented team I've had, so we're going to have a little bit of growing pains defensively," Nelson said with a laugh.

The Redhawks held possession of the ball for most of the game but struggled with longer, direct balls from the Panthers.

"I think we could've watched the chipping a little bit better," Lierz said. "We were all trying to communicate with each other, but in the end it was just we would get in bad habits where we're up too far and not watching out for the big ball."

Minor said that the team's defensive marking and overall pressure the Redhawks put on the Panthers in each position was lacking.

"Usually we're pretty good at that," Minor said. "We had some players playing new positions and all sorts of stuff, so that kind of factored in, and it was hot out, but at the end of the day we've got to correct those mistakes so that we can become another OVC championship team."

Southeast scored both of its first-half goals on corner kicks. Paige Blankenheim received a pass from Paige Luehmann from the corner flag and hit it to the far post from 20 yards out and into the upper-right corner of the net in the 32nd minute.

Maddy Cornell took a corner with 2:21 left in the half and passed the ball in to Jennifer Antonacci, who turned and knocked it into the 6-yard box. Abby Klintworth got her foot on it, and her shot hit off the cross bar and ricocheted down and across the goal line.

"You're not supposed to feel comfortable with that lead, but I think sometimes you kind of step back and take it for granted," Mann said.

The Redhawks, who are 1-0-1 on the season, remain at home for their next two games.

They host Evansville on Friday night with a 6:30 p.m. kickoff and Northern Colorado on Sunday at 1 p.m.

"My major message to the girls today was I'm disappointed for them because I think for the amount of effort we put in we should've come away with a better result," Nelson said, "but with that being said, everything that we did wrong in terms of giving up goals is very correctable so that's the glass half full."