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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri scored twice in a 27-second span and a strong defensive effort held Missouri-St. Louis to just one shot as the Redhawks earned a 2-0 victory on Friday evening. An impressive crowd was in attendance for the match at Missouri National Guard Field at Houck Stadium.
 
The Redhawks (1-0) defense was stellar and held the Tritons to just one shot, which was saved by GK Kindra Lierz, who posted her first career shutout in her NCAA debut. Southeast had 12 total shots, including four on goal.
 
In the 74^th minute, F Breana Beine was taken down in the box and MF Torey Byrd then planted a penalty kick into the top left corner of the net to give Southeast a 1-0 advantage.
 
Just 27 seconds later, Byrd used a header to pass the ball ahead and assist F Natasha Minor, who was able to beat UMSL goalkeeper Amanda Shurzinske on a contested shot from the edge of the box to make the score 2-0.
 
"When we talked at halftime, we thought that our possession had been pretty good in the game and we had created some opportunities but weren't quite calm enough in the final third," head coach Heather Nelson said. "I think the girls did a better job when we came out in the second half to try and maintain that intensity but create better goal-scoring  chances, and I think we did."
 
Ashley Brendel, Paige Luehmann, Minor and Christina Rohde all recorded two shots with each posting a shot on goal.
 
"I thought our forwards had a very good game tonight," Nelson said. "As a team, ball movement was very good, including Kindra."
 
Defender Valeria Jaramillo led the defensive effort along the back line.
 
"Val in particular really got nicked in a lot of things," Nelson said. "She's willing to put her body on the line, and we need that type of personality in the back. We had a number of players play there tonight, which was very good."
 
Southeast will travel to Colorado next weekend to participate in the Air Force Academy Tournament. The Redhawks will face UC Davis at 4 p.m. CT on Friday, Sept. 5 in Colorado Springs and then will take on Northern Colorado at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday, Sept. 7 in Greeley, Colo.