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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Southeast Missouri (11-5, 8-2) earned a 2-1 victory over SIU Edwardsville (11-6-1, 8-2) thanks to a late goal by MF Torey Byrd with just over five minutes remaining on Friday evening. With the win, the Redhawks earned a share of the Ohio Valley Conference regular season title and will host as the top seed of the OVC Tournament that runs from Nov. 6-9.
 
"It was a really hard-fought battle. I'm very proud of my girls," head coach Heather Nelson said. "We never quit. We haven't quit all year and we knew that we needed to win to host and to win the regular season championship and they were very focused on that task. All-around, it was just a really solid team effort against a very talented opponent."
 
Southeast has now won five regular season conference titles in the 16 years of the program in addition to two OVC Tournament championships.
 
"As a coaching staff, we're very blessed to be able to go in the locker room and talk about the tradition of the program," Nelson said. "We've been blessed to never go more than four years without winning an OVC championship of some sort and we've done it again."
 
In the 25^th minute, F Natasha Minor gave Southeast a 1-0 lead when she scored at the far post off of a pass from F Breana Beine. It was Minor's team-leading eighth goal of the season and the fourth assist for Beine. The forwards increased their seasonal point totals to 22 and 18 points, respectively.
 
"Natasha got a good ball played to her by Breana to put her in position to make a difference," Nelson said. "Then Natasha really had a great individual effort to finish."
 
SIUE answered back in the second half when Kayla Delgado scored off a feed from Samantha Jones to tie the score 1-1 in the 75^th minute.
 
MF Torey Byrd scored the go-ahead goal in the 85^th minute off of a rebound following a free kick by D Christina Rohde. SIUE GK Jennifer Pelley deflected the initial shot by Rohde but the ball then rolled towards the goal and Byrd beat Pelley to the ball to put it in the net for the game-winner. It was Byrd's second goal of the season and Rohde's first assist.
 
"The game-winning goal was another pretty quality team effort," Nelson said. "I don't know if the ball was going to go over on its own or not. I think the whole place became silent as it was rolling slowly and Torey probably ran the fastest she has in her whole career to make sure that ball went in the back of the net."
 
SIUE outshot Southeast 14-4 on the evening, including a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal. Byrd notched a team-high two shots.
 
Michelle Auer, Cassidy Sherman and Delgado posted a game-high three shots each with Sherman recorded a match-best two shots on goal.
 
GK Kindra Lierz finished with five saves for Southeast. She improved her record to 11-4 on the season.
 
The Redhawks received a first round by in the OVC Tournament that begins on Thursday.  Southeast will play the winner of No. 4 UT Martin and No. 5 Jacksonville State at 7 p.m. on Friday at Missouri National Guard Field at Houck Stadium.

Photo courtesy of Steve Olson/SoccerSTL.net