CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri women's (5-0-1, 5-0-1 OVC) posted a 3-3 draw with SIUE (5-0-1, 5-0-1) Tuesday on Senior Night at Houck Field.
 
The battle between the top-two teams in the Ohio Valley Conference lived up to the hype in a physical contest Tuesday.
 
SEMO jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening 41 minutes before SIUE responded with three unanswered goals.
 
Kayla Byrd scored her first career goal as a Redhawk in the 11th minute of regulation. The senior goalkeeper from Normal, Illinois, made her first career start at forward Tuesday. She converted a feed from Kiana Khedoo and Hannah Compernolle to provide SEMO a 1-0 early advantage.
 
Two minutes later, Bailey Redden stopped Angel Ikeda's penalty kick to keep SIUE off the scoreboard after a SEMO foul in the box.
 
Morgan McCourt then extended the SEMO lead with her first score of the 2020-21 season. McCourt found the back of the net off a pass from Lauren Welker at 12:58 in the first half.
 
Faith Liljegren scored a highlight reel header off a free kick in the 41st minute of action to push the SEMO margin to 3-0. Liljegren headed Natalie Jackson's free kick past Cougars netminder Taylor Spiller. The goal was Liljegren's first career tally in her fifth collegiate contest.
 
Ashlin West cut the SEMO lead to 3-1 with a goal in the 42nd minute to start the Cougars comeback.
 
SIUE had a slight edge on the Redhawks in shots through the first 45 minutes with seven compared to SEMO's six.
 
After the break, the Cougars outshot SEMO, 13-5, and finished the contest with a shot differential of 20-11. SIUE finished with 12 shots on target compared to the Redhawks nine.
 
Matea Diekema chipped in a shot from 18 yards out in the 64th minute to make it a 3-2 game.
 
Lily Schnieders then evened the game at 3-3 with a goal in the 81st minute. Schnieders paced SIUE with six shots and four on net.
 
In the overtime periods, SIUE outshot SEMO 4-1 but neither team could find the back of the net for the game-winner.
 
Welker led the Redhawks with three shots including one on goal. Abby Tremain posted a pair of shots on net, entering as a SEMO substitution.
 
Redden made nine saves for SEMO and Spiller finished with six stops for the visiting Cougars in the draw.
 
Emma Brune, Lexie Hacker and Natalie Jackson competed in all 110 minutes of the game for the Redhawks.
 
SIUE earned 11 corners compared to SEMO's three.
 
Five yellow cautions were handed out in the contest including four to the Redhawks.
 
Seniors Kayla Byrd, Lexi Grote, Lexie Hacker and Emily Holten were all recognized for their careers at SEMO prior to the game. All four started the contest along with senior Hannah Compernolle who will return for the 2021 fall season.
 
SEMO next heads to Kentucky for a pair of OVC games against Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State. The Redhawks will face EKU on Friday at 3 p.m., CT in Richmond, Kentucky, before closing the trip to the Bluegrass State, on Sunday, March 28 versus Morehead State in Morehead, Kentucky.