EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Women's soccer opened the 2017 season with a 2-0 shutout of Evansville (0-1) Friday evening.
 
Southeast's offense and defense were firing on all cylinders Friday evening as the offense fired off 13 shots while the defense held Evansville to just three on the evening.  
 
Kindra Lierz (1-0) picked up the solo shutout in goal, having to make only one save. The solo shutout was the 24^th of her career, four shy of tying the record of 28 (Lindsay Pickering).
 
Michaela Till (0-1) recorded the loss in goal for Evansville. Till allowed both Redhawk goals and made four saves in 90 minutes.
 
Paige Blankenheim and Maddy Cornell each netted a goal to guide the Redhawks to the season-opening victory.
 
Blankenheim led the squad with three shots in the contest, tying a career-best two shots on goal. Esmie Gonzales, Jennifer Brien, and Cornell all had two shots each.

Defender Lauren Kaempfe was the only field player for Southeast to play the full 90 minutes of the contest. 
 
The Redhawks and Purple Aces played to a scoreless draw after the first 45 minutes of play. At half, the Redhawks outshot UE, 6-1. SEMO put two of its six shots on goal.
 
Brien had two shots in the opening half with four others contributing one each.
 
Southeast was called on eight fouls in the half while UE was called for just three. The Redhawks also had three corner kick opportunities.
 
Blankenheim scored the go-ahead goal, the eventual game winner, in the 52^nd minute to put the Redhawks up 1-0. Gonzales kicked out to Blankenheim who  settled the ball at the top of the box and fired to put SEMO on the board.
 
The Redhawks' lead was added to in the 81^st minute when Cornell shot from the top left of the box and found the back of the net, scoring her second career goal.
 
Southeast's defense held the Purple Aces, fending off one more shot in the 89^th minute to secure the shutout.
 
The Redhawks will host Illinois Springfield Sunday at Houck Field at 6:30 p.m. Southeast will be giving out SEMO Soccer Eclipse t-shirts to the first 400 fans through the gates Sunday. The match will be streamed live and for free to the OVC Digital Network.