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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Southeast rallied from a halftime deficit, but Rachel Tejada's second goal in the 63rd minute sent the Redhawks to a 2-1 season-opening loss to Illinois State on Friday night.
The season-opening setback is only Southeast's (0-1) second in its last 12 season openers.
Friday night's contest opened up with a defensive struggle in the first half. The teams combined for only seven shots in the first 45 minutes, though the few shots attempted were high quality. ISU's (1-0) Aimee Wronski drilled a shot off the goal post in the 15th minute and six minutes later a cross by
Torey Byrd found
Jacey Boyko for a header that was flipped just wide of the net to keep the contest scoreless.
The Redbirds got on the board in the 23rd minute when Kristin Cooley's free kick got past the Redhawks' back line and drew
Ashton Aubuchon out for a race to the ball with Tejada, the nation's fourth leading scorer a year ago. Tejada got to the spot first and tapped the ball past Aubuchon for the tally to put ISU up 1-0 at halftime, despite taking only three shots.
The second half opened up with Southeast playing catch up. The Redhawks took four of the first five shots in the frame, several of which were quality chances. In the 52nd minute,
Erin Shulman slipped a ball into the corner in the 18-yard box, giving
Courtney Luehmann a slight opening towards a vacated goal, but the sharp angle shot just grazed off the near post.
Southeast was not to be denied. In the 54th minute Shulman played a long ball through the Redbird defense to spring freshman
Ashley Geist free. In similar fashion to ISU's first goal, Redbird keeper Aryn Newsom came out of the net to try to play the ball away, but Geist was quicker to the ball and sent a long shot sailing into a wide open net from about 30 yards, evening the score at 1-1.
The contest became more defensive over the next few minutes, with each team only attempting one shot over the next nine minutes. The next bounce went to Illinois State in the 63rd minute as a Kyla Cross cross into the box took a high bounce behind every Redhawk, finding Tejada with a wide open look for her second tally of the night.
“We uncharacteristically did not do very well at the back, the back four and the keeper,” Southeast associate head coach
Paul Nelson said. “Our reputation is that we are good at the back end and I am not worried about it. It was our first game and it came against an opponent that will probably finish in the top 60 in the country. It was a disappointing result, but there were a lot of positives to be taken out of tonight.”
The Redhawks pressed over the next 15 minutes and set up a great chance at the equalizer with under 17 minutes left. A through ball found
Kasey Crowden streaking down the left sideline and her cross met found Geist for a header, but Newsom made a strong diving save to preserve the lead. After two more Southeast shots shortly after that chance, ISU grinded out the final 13 minutes without allowing another shot.
The Redhawks outshot the Redbirds by a 13-10 margin, including a 9-7 advantage in the second half. Southeast also attempted five corner kicks to ISU's four.
Ashton Aubuchon played all 90 minutes in goal and made one save.
Southeast is back in action on Sunday when it hosts in-state rival Saint Louis at Houck Stadium. That match kicks off at 6:30 p.m.
