CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — The Redhawk offense erupted for five goals and 23 shots, 12 of which were on goal, in Sunday's 5-0 shutout of Eastern Illinois (2-8-1, 0-2 OVC). 

The win notches Southeast's first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season. The Redhawks are now 6-3-2 overall and 1-0-1 in league play. 

"This was entirely a team effort for us today and I couldn't be more proud of every member in our program," said head coach Heather Nelson. "Our starters went out and started the day off right. We're battling some health problems and injuries right now but we had players rotate in and step up; I feel there was no drop off in our all-around performance today. I credit all of our players, starters and reserves, for putting in tremendous amounts of hard work to be ready when the moment comes."

Natasha Minor netted her second goal of the season in the fifth minute of the match. Paige Blankenheim crossed the ball into Minor off a free kick. Minor just got a touch on the ball to redirect it past the keeper and put the Redhawks up 1-0. 

Exactly one minute later, Minor scored on a cross in from Angie Mann to widen the early lead to 2-0 on the Panthers. 

Minor would go down with an injury in the 13th minute and would not return to the match. 

The Redhawks would ride the 2-0 lead into halftime. Southeast had 10 shots in the first half to EIU's three. The Redhawks had four other shots on goal, all saved by EIU's Maddie Lyons. Minor had three shots, all on goal, before leaving the match. Lauren Kaempfe had two shots in the first half.

Mann scored her team-leading sixth goal four minutes into the second half. Blankenheim crossed the ball into Mann from about 20 yards out. Mann netted the ball in the upper left corner to extend the lead to 3-0. 

The lead was widened to 4-0 on an Eastern Illinois own goal in the 74th minute. In an attempt to head the ball out of the box, Emily Wolf went the wrong way with it, over her own keeper, and into the net. 

Maddi Karstens made it 5-0 with her first career goal two minutes later. Shelby Beussink assisted on Karstens' goal. 

Southeast finished with 23 shots, one shy of tying a season-high. The strong Redhawk defense held EIU to four shots in the shutout. Southeast had five corner kicks and was called for five fouls. The Panthers had only one corner and had nine fouls. 

"I think everything came together in today's match. Overall, it was a very good team credit today. If we had a player with a slip-up on defense, we had someone there to have her back. We've been working very hard towards that moment and I think today we finally became a family."

Abby Klintworth got off a team-high four shots including two header shots, one on goal and the other off the crossbar. Five other Redhawks each had a pair of shots Sunday. 

Bianca Nevejas had two of EIU's four shots. 

Kindra Lierz (5-3-2) played 79:09 in goal and recorded both saves. Alyssa Sickler came in and played the final 10:51, wrapping up the shutout in goal. 

Lyons (1-7-1) went the distance in goal for the Panthers allowing all five goals and recording seven saves. 

Nelson concluded, "I can't say enough for the crowd support we've had at home this season. We had wonderful support in the East end zone today and had a great turnout from some fraternities and sororities. When the environment in Houck Stadium is high energy and positive, we have even more to play for."

The Redhawks open a three-game road swing Friday, Oct. 2 at Austin Peay.