Unbeaten Otahks to open OVC play against defending champ

The pre-conference season for Southeast Missouri State University's women's soccer team could not have gone much better.

Otahkian coach Heather Nelson just hopes that she can say the same thing about her squad's Ohio Valley Conference campaign when all is said and done.

Southeast will take its 8-0 record to Charleston, Ill., today for a highly-anticipated 4 p.m. OVC opener against two-time defending league champion Eastern Illinois, which is 7-1.

"We start off with a bang," said Nelson. "It's a big matchup right off the bat."

Nelson knows one game won't make or break her squad's hopes of capturing its first OVC title, but she also realizes getting off to a strong start in the league could set the tone for the rest of the year.

"I think it's going to be a close fight between Eastern Illinois, Tennessee Tech, Murray State and us," she said. "I'm not sure if anybody is going to win all their games, but if we could get off to a good start it would help us. Obviously we're going in looking for a win."

According to Nelson, the key to beating Eastern Illinois is simple. The Otahkians must contain sophomore sensation Beth Liesen, last year's OVC Freshman of the Year who is by far the league's top scorer with 12 goals and three assists for a total of 27 points. Liesen leads the nation in goals per game with 1.5.

The Panthers also have Devon Bissell, the 2000 OVC Player of the Year who has a league-high seven assists to go with one goal. But the Eastern Illinois offense clearly centers around Liesen.

"She's one player we're going to have to shut down, but after that, they drop off (in goal scorers), so we should be able to concentrate on her," Nelson said. "Conversely, our team has several good scorers so it's hard to concentrate on any one."

Southeast, in its third year of women's soccer, has four of the OVC's top five goal scorers. Nicole Thiele and Erin Slattery both have five goals to rank right behind Liesen while Marla Gianino and Erika Todd are another goal back with four each. Slattery and Gianino are freshmen.

Slattery, who has three assists, and Todd with five both have 13 points to rank right behind Liesen in overall scoring. And right behind them are Thiele and Gianino with 10 points each.

Otahkian keeper Beth Guccione leads the OVC in shutouts with six and in goals-against average at 0.50.

"We've played really well so far and even some games when we haven't, this team finds a way to win. That's been consistent all season," said Nelson.