Southeast Missouri State women's soccer carries on tradition, rides momentum into OVC Tournament

Southeast Missouri State goalkeeper Kindra Lierz receives flowers from coach Heather Nelson during Senior Day ceremonies prior to a game against Jacksonville State on Sunday at Houck Field.

Josh Mlot

One would imagine that more than a few tears were shed Sunday in the locker room of the Southeast Missouri State women's team.

Ahead of a 1-0 victory over Jacksonville State on Senior Day, the Redhawks maintained one of their key end-of-year traditions, and the result is often blurry eyes and a crumpled tissue or two.

On the eve of game day, coach Heather Nelson stayed up late into the night, crafting personal letters for each of her seniors. Then, on Sunday, she read them aloud in front of the entire team.

"It's difficult after you've spent four or sometimes five years with them," Nelson said. "So I want to make it right. I want to recognize them for their accomplishments here, with a huge emphasis on things, honestly, that happen away from the field. Sometimes they've earned things on the field. Part of that tradition is every senior gets that letter read to them in the locker room in front of the entire team. Then the team also does a really good job of putting together scrapbooks and memory books for them. It's a really emotional day for everyone."

This particular class of seniors has been through just about everything in a Redhawks uniform. Goalkeeper Kindra Lierz, for example, is a four-year starter. Her freshman season, Southeast was the regular-season Ohio Valley Conference champion. Her sophomore season, the Redhawks made a wild postseason run to the OVC Tournament title game and nearly won. Then last year, the program didn't even qualify for the postseason.

But in 2017, the Redhawks are back in the tournament, and as a last hurrah, they sent their seniors off from Houck Field with a victory in the regular-season finale.

Prior to the game, the team held a ceremony honoring the seniors -- Lierz, Shay Darga, Shelby Beussink, Paige Blankenheim, Maggie Pike and Maddy Cornell. All six started the game against JSU.

"We're all different in a way," Lierz said. "We're all unique, and ... our personalities are different. But we all get along. It's kind of one big happy family between the seniors, and I love being with the senior class I'm with."

Their on-field paths have all been different as well. Some, like Lierz, have played from the very start. Some have been multi-year starters, like Blankenheim and Darga. Others have faced adversity, with Beussink, a local product who graduated from Notre Dame Regional High School, transferring in and then battling injuries until this season.

"They're all really unique, vibrant personalities, and we've had some great leaders come through," Nelson said. "The ones who have been four-year players for us started their freshman campaign with an OVC championship. Then in their sophomore year, they made it to an OVC Tournament championship game. That year we were really on a roll -- Kindra, in particular, was really on a roll. ... We reminisce about those things, and then we talk about a lot of things that happened away from the field that are just really feel-good either laughable moments or family moments or team moments."

They've traveled different distances as well. While Beussink is a local, Lierz and Pike came from different corners of Missouri, and Blankenheim and Darga were both part of the Redhawks' Wisconsin pipeline. None, though, took the leap that Cornell did, leaving her home in Australia to pursue an opportunity at Southeast.

On Sunday, her parents, who still live in Australia, were in attendance for Senior Day festivities. Nelson said the Cornells have been following the team the past few weeks, a run that's coincided with an uptick in the team's form.

"I'm going to be talking to them because Maddy says their our good luck charm, and if they're our good luck charm, then we need them to come to Nashville (for the OVC Tournament) for us," Nelson said.

As the group honored the last four years of memories on Sunday, it recognized there are still some memories to be made.

"An OVC win would definitely be the best way to [go out] and go to the NCAA (Tournament)," Lierz said, "but knowing we are going to the tournament is really good."

Mounting momentum

Southeast hasn't defeated it's first-round OVC Tournament opponent, Austin Peay, in the last seven meetings, dating back to a 3-1 win on Sept. 23, 2011.

That includes 1-1 draws in the regular season both this year and last.

But the fifth-seeded Redhawks are going into Friday's meeting full steam ahead following three straight victories to close out the regular season. That string allowed Southeast to go from worrying about barely missing out on the postseason for a second straight season to finishing ahead of four other tournament-bound programs.

"We're just glad we're in the tournament," Lierz said after Sunday's game. "That's what we're all celebrating.

"Right now we haven't really talked about it because it's Senior Night, and we're kind of just soaking that in. But I think the message will be, 'OK, we're on a good run right now. We need to keep it up. We're about to play some teams now we already know how they play, so now we just need to get ready to go.'"

Part of the rising momentum has been that Southeast has been better able to rely on the group at its disposal, as a number of players who were battling through some bumps and bruises during the midseason grind are now a little closer to full health.

That's had a positive impact, with players like Jennifer Brien, Bri Caccavale and Maddy Cornell -- a few of the Redhawks who have been injured at some point this season -- feeling strong enough to play major minutes and leave a mark.

Caccavale played all 90 minutes of Sunday's contest at center back, Cornell put in a 56-minute shift on the wing and Brien played 34 very impactful minutes up top.

"We're thin, but we're healthy with the players we have on the field," Nelson said. "That's a credit to work that's happening behind the scenes. JB (Brien) was very dangerous [against Jacksonville State]. She's been a player that's been battling some injuries. I thought Bri was solid at the back of the field today.

"To be honest, if anything, we wrapped some of those kids up and let other people get minutes as the game went on because we want to go with as healthy as a roster as we can into the next game."

Lierz believes an important factor in the late-season run has just been getting a number of younger contributors settled into the system, and that full integration couldn't come at a better time.

"I think, right now, our youngsters finally know how to play our system and understand -- as a team, as a whole -- we're coming together and are really going for it," Lierz said. "They understand how important it is to win games, to get to that tournament, and now it's one and done. Anyone can win this."

The nip-and-tuck nature of the OVC this season underscores that -- spots No. 2 through 10 (out of 11 teams) in the league standings were up for grabs on the final match day of the regular season, and seven of SEMO's 10 league contests were decided by a goal or less.

For Nelson, the key to giving her team a chance now that one loss ends the season is continuing to utilize the approach that has worked best for the Redhawks thus far -- turning the focus inward rather than outward.

"This team has responded by far the best when we've focused on us and the things we can control and what makes us good defending, attacking and in transition," Nelson said. "I don't foresee any changes there. If that's their comfort zone, we're going to make sure we stay exactly where they feel best and most confident going into the next game.

"For me, I'm very comfortable with who we have. I think we have a lot of talent, and I'm happy with how we're playing right now. So I'm looking forward to next week."

Southeast takes on Austin Peay at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.