CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (11-4-1, 8-1-1) won the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title and clinched the top seed for the league's postseason tournament with a 3-2 win over Tennessee Tech (6-7-5, 4-3-3) Sunday afternoon.
SEMO won its sixth OVC regular-season crown in program history and first outright title since 2011.
The Redhawks will host the OVC Tournament semifinals (Nov. 8) and final (Nov. 10) at Houck Field. SEMO is scheduled to face either #5 Tennessee Tech, #8 Eastern Illinois or #4 SIU Edwardsville in the second semifinal matchup at 6:30 p.m., CT, on Friday, Nov. 8.
TTU took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Natalie Rolen nearly 27 minutes into the contest.
SEMO answered with three goals, one each by Jennifer Brien, Lexi Grote and Megan Heisserer to take a 3-1 advantage and never looked back.
Brien netted her fourth goal of the season at the 30:09 mark, while Grote scored in the 46th minute and Heisserer notched her goal in the 79th minute.
TTU and SEMO locked up in a physical battle that included four yellow cards and one red card.
Tina Marolt pulled the Golden Eagles within one on a penalty kick goal at the 84:59 mark after SEMO goalkeeper Bailey Redden was issued a red card. Redden was ejected from the game.
SEMO outshot TTU by a commanding 18-3 count with nine of its shots on goal. Grote, Brien, Hailey Block and Heisserer tallied three shots apiece.
The red-hot Redhawks enter this year's OVC Tournament after going 6-0-1 in their previous seven games. The 2019 campaign marks SEMO's 18th all-time OVC Tournament appearance.
