Game # 1
Southeast Missouri State (0-0-0, 0-0-0 OVC)
at Missouri (0-0-0, 0-0-0 SEC)
Match Information
Date: Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023
Location: Columbia, Mo.
Venue: Audrey J. Walton Soccer Stadium
First Kick: 6:00 p.m., CT
All-Time Series: Missouri Leads the All-Time series 2-0-1
Last Meeting: 0-1 Loss | Columbia, Mo. | Aug. 18, 2022
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Live Video: ESPN+
 
Redhawks Begin 2023 Regular Season Thursday at Missouri 
Southeast Missouri women's soccer will begin the 2023 campaign on Thursday, August 17 when they take on Southeastern Conference-member Missouri at 6 p.m., CT. at Audrey J. Walton Soccer Stadium in Columbia, Mo. 

The Redhawks and Tigers kicked off 2022 against each other in Columbia, resulting in a 1-0 Missouri win. 

Series History
The Redhawks and Tigers will meet for the fourth time in the program's history on Thursday night. Missouri holds a 2-0-1 series advantage after last season's 1-0 victory over SEMO in Columbia. 

Prior to last season, the two programs met in 2013 in Columbia resulting in a 4-0 Tigers win. 

Last Time Out
SEMO wrapped up its 2023 exhibition slate against Missouri-St. Louis on Monday night at Jackson Jr. High Soccer Stadium resulting in a 1-1 draw. 

Sophomore Cayla Koerner picked up where she left off a season ago, nothing the lone Redhawks goal in the dying seconds of the first half. Koerner slotted the ball into the bottom right corner to tie it at 1-1 heading to the halftime break. 

The Redhawks registered 17 shots with 10 of them on-target as they peppered the UMSL goalkeeper all evening.

Freshman Justi Nelson led the team in shots with five on the evening, including four on target. Her first shot came in the 11^th minute of the contest with a shot towards the bottom of the net that was saved. 

SEMO kept garnering chances. Senior Faith Liljegren nearly gave SEMO the advantage in the 88^th minute with a shot that forced the UMSL keeper to push it up over the crossbar for a Redhawks corner. 

Liljegren's shot was one of three Redhawks chances within the final six minutes of the match. 
Goalkeepers Sofia Elfrink and Maison Geisler each registered a save a piece as the pair each played a half. 

Redhawks Picked to Finish Fourth By OVC, Brune Selected as Player to Watch
The Ohio Valley Conference released its predicted order of finish for the 2023 women's soccer season. The Redhawks were picked to finish fourth overall, the league announced on August 10. 

Tennessee Tech was picked to finish first, picking up 12 first-place votes, with 156 points. SIUE (eight first place votes) was picked to finish second with 146 points, followed by Morehead State in third with 126 points. 

Southeast Missouri, picked to finish fourth, received 118 points in the final voting by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. 
Little Rock (88), Lindenwood (77), Southern Indiana (66), UT Martin (63), new member Western Illinois (35) and Eastern Illinois (25) rounded out the final six spots in the predicted order of finish. 

Senior midfielder/defender Emma Brune landed on the 'players to watch' list released by the league. Brune started all 17 matches last season, logging 1,542 minutes of play and had matches of 90-minutes plus in 15 of them, including a 110-minute shift against Lindenwood in the OVC Tournament.  

She registered 14 shots, including seven on target and finished with a goal and an assist in 2022.

Head Coach
Head Coach Heather Nelson begins her 25th season in the 25th year of Southeast Missouri women's soccer in 2023. Coach Nelson supports a 220-154-61 overall record at SEMO in her 25 seasons as the only coach in program history. In the Ohio Valley Conference, Coach Nelson also maintains a 106-59-38 record against conference opponents. 

This Year's Squad
The 2023 women's soccer team will return a bunch of players to the roster after last season's heartbreaking loss in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. The roster will feature 18 returners and just nine newcomers, eight of them being freshman. 

13 Redhawks hail from the state of Missouri, six from Illinois, one from Kansas, and four from the state of Wisconsin. 

The squad also features two international players. Senior forward Kiana Khedoo and freshman defender Anika Sproxton both come to Cape Girardeau, Mo. by way of Brampton Ontario, Canada. 

On the roster are three goalkeepers, nine defenders, seven midfielders, and seven forwards.

Scouting the Opponent
The Missouri Tigers went 1-1 in their two exhibition games this season. A 2-0 win against Memphis and a 0-2 loss against Oklahoma State.
 
The Tigers finished fifth in the SEC East last season with an overall record of 5-8-4 (1-5-3 SEC). The Preseason poll picked the Tigers to finish 11th in the SEC this season.
 
Defender Grace Pettet earned Second Team All-SEC honors last season and freshman goalie Bella Hollenbach made the All-Freshman SEC Team, both will be returning this season.
 
Kylie Dobbs led the team with four goals during the 2022 campaign, the Tigers will look to replace their leading scorer for the 2023 season. 
 
Milena Fisher and Kylee Simmons are returning for the Tigers. Together they notched four goals and five assists last season.
 
The Tigers added two graduate transfers to boost the offense during the season, forward Alycea Morin from Boston College, and Forward Nicole Icen from Mercer. Morin played in seven games for the Eagles and Icen played a total of 63 games for the bears, tallying ten goals, while earning Southern Conference Player of the Year.
 
Missouri added ten freshmen to their 2023 roster, four midfielders, one forward, one forward/midfielder, three defenders, and one goalie.
 
Head Coach Stefanie Golan is entering her third season at Missouri with a record of 12-18-4. Golan also coached at Army going 33-18-10 with one NCAA tournament appearance and at the University of Minnesota with a record of 92-64-24 with four NCAA appearances.  
 
Looking Ahead
Southeast Missouri will be back in action on Sunday, August 20, when they host Grambling State for the first home match of 2023 in Cape Girardeau. Kick-off is slated for 1 p.m., CT. at Houck Field.