SEMO soccer drops one goal contest

SEMO senior Kiana Khedoo passes the ball during Sunday's game against Tennessee Tech.

Photo Courtesy of Carrie Trovillion - Freelance Photographer

The SEMO women’s soccer team was defeated 1-0 by the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles on Sunday at Houck Stadium. The Ohio Valley Conference-leading Golden Eagles handed the Redhawks their third conference loss, pushing SEMO down to sixth in the OVC.

The first half of the game was a deadlock with the teams being nearly identical in every statistical category with the exception of corner kick, which the Golden Eagles had three to Southeast’s zero. Each team had three shots with both goalkeepers ending the half with a clean scoresheet. SEMO head coach Heather Nelson said the half proved they can play with the top teams in the conference.

“I think we can play with them. We just need to clean up some really tiny things, honestly, that in this one were more individual,” Nelson said. “I think with our team defending and our team attacking, the organization is there.”

The second half is where Tech turned up the heat, taking more shots than the Redhawks, getting more corner kicks and fouling less than SEMO. The 56th minute is where the table flipped on the Redhawks when Golden Eagle freshman forward Neve Renwick found the back of the net from an assist by senior midfielder Yao Giada Zhou to take the 1-0 lead.

Aside from the goal, the defense of the Redhawks held against the OVC leaders by keeping possession for a slight majority of the match. Nelson said the team performed well despite being pushed defensively.

“There's always going to be moments in the game where we get placed on the defense and they are a solid team, starting from their goalkeeper and going forward,” Nelson said. “They have three players that are extremely threatening that we had to make sure were shut down today.”

The Redhawks will travel to Southern Indiana on Thursday to take on the Screaming Eagles at 7 p.m. before returning to Houck Stadium for the final regular season game against the UT Martin Skyhawks at 1 p.m.