Games 1 & 2
Southeast Missouri State (0-0-0)
vs Missouri - St. Louis (0-0-0,) Murray St. (0-0-0)
 
Match Information
Date: Thursday, Aug. 15, & Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Venue: Houck Stadium
First Kick: 6:00 p.m., CT both days
All-Time Series: SEMO Leads UMSL 2-0-0 | Murray State Leads 14-13-1
Last Meeting: Against USML - 1-0 Win | Cape Girardeau, Mo. | Aug. 26, 2021
Against Murray St. - 2-0 Win | Murray, Ky. | Sept. 10, 2023
 
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Live Stats: Missouri-St. Louis | Murray State
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Redhawks Begin 2024 Regular Season Thursday and Sunday at Home
Southeast Missouri women's soccer will begin their 26th season at home for the first two games of the season beginning on Thursday, August 15 when they take on Great Lakes Valley Conference-member Missouri-St. Louis. The Redhawks will then host Missouri Valley Conference member Murray State on Sunday, August 18. Both matches are slated for 6 p.m., CT. at Houck Stadium.
 
Series History
This will be just the third time in history when SEMO faces UMSL on Thursday. SEMO holds the lead in the series at 2-0-0. Last year these teams squared off for an exhibition game on Aug. 14^th in Jackson, Mo.
 
Their last meeting in 2021 resulted in a 1-0 Redhawk win. Prior to that their first ever meeting was in 2014 when the Redhawks beat the Tritons 2-0 at home.
 
This will be the 29th all-time meeting against the Racers. MSU holds a 14-13-1 series advantage over the Redhawks. The last time these programs faced the Redhawks bested Murray St. on the road with a 2-0 win a season ago.
 
Last Time Out
SEMO Soccer has not played since advancing to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Semifinals last year after taking down #6 Eastern Illinois with a 1-0 victory.
 
The Redhawks would move on to the semifinal round with a 5-4 penalty shootout victory over #3 SIUE (T, 1-1) after sending the game to overtime in the dying seconds with a goal from defender Alayna Jakul in the 87th minute, trailing 1-0. 
 
The 2023 campaign came to an end with a 1-0 defeat to #2 Morehead State. The Eagles' goal came in the 83rd minute as they would go on to claim the 2023 OVC title over the host, Tennessee Tech. 
 
Last year Southeast Missouri ended the season with a 7-6-6 record overall and landed three players on the All-OVC Postseason list. Forward Cayla Koerner and goalkeeper Sophia Elfrink each earned All-OVC Second Team honors. Freshman midfielder Justi Nelson, the daughter of Coach Nelson, was selected to the All-OVC Newcomer Team.  
 
Preseason Poll and Player's to Watch
The Ohio Valley Conference released its predicted order of finish for the 2024 women's soccer season. The Redhawks were picked to finish seventh overall, the league announced on August 8. 
 
Tennessee Tech was picked to finish first with 12 first place votes with 153 points. SIUE picked up six first place votes (141 points) to finish in second, followed by Morehead State (Two first place votes) with 122 points for third.
 
Rounding out the next seven, Little Rock (96), Southern Indiana (91), UT Martin (90), Southeast Missouri (86), Eastern Illinois (61), Lindenwood (38), and Western Illinois (22).
 
Junior goalkeeper Sophia Elfrink was selected to the 2024 OVC 'Players to Watch' List announced last Thursday morning. 
 
She played in all 19 games a season ago, making 18 starts in the net for SEMO. Allowed a career-low 15 goals last season and secured Ohio Valley Conference Goalkeeper of the Week three times in 2023. 
 
She was named to the All-OVC Second Team in 2023 after making 76 saves and finishing with a .835 save-percentage. She finished the year with nine shutouts on the scoresheet.
 
This Year's Squad
The 2024 squad will feature 19 returnees from their magical semifinal run to the OVC semifinal last year. The returners include one graduate student, four seniors, nine juniors, and five sophomores.
 
The team will feature just three newcomers: Forwards Alli Saviano and Kylar Serio, and Midfielder, Carson Bohnenstiehl.
 
In total the team consists of two goalkeepers, seven forwards, six midfielders, and seven defenders. 
 
Head coach Heather Nelson returns for her 26th season. In 25 years under her guidance, the Redhawks have posted 19 winning seasons and compiled a 227-160-66 record.
 
Assistant Coaches Esmie Gonzales and Alex Theobald will assist with coaching duties as well.
 
Scouting Missouri-St. Louis
The Tritons, led by Head Coach Maddie Moon in her fifth season, finished last season with a third straight appearance in the GLVC tournament. They finished with an 8-6-3 overall record and 7-4-1 conference record a season ago. 
 
Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) returns all three of their All-GLVC award winners from last season. Senior midfielder Kayley Judy was named to the All-GLVC second team and senior forward Jada Holloman and senior defender Jaycee Cotton were third team selections last year. 
 
Holloman and Judy led the Tritons with seven goals apiece a year ago. Holloman was also the leader in shots on goal with 16. 
 
Mary Kate Neal returns as UMSL's main goalie. She had the most saves a season ago with 27 and a save percentage of 0.818. 
 
As a team last season, UMSL scored 31 goals for a 1.82 goals per game average. They shot 52.5% of their shots on goal with 24 assists.
 
This year's squad features 29 athletes with five freshmen, 11 sophomores, four juniors, nine seniors, and one graduate student. 
 
This will be the Tritons first game on their schedule. 
 
Scouting Murray State
Murray State is coming off a 6-8-6 overall record and a 3-2-5 conference record. Their season concluded in the second round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament last season. 
 
The Racers Head Coach Matt Lodge enters his seventh season at Murray. Lodge produced six All-Conference selections last season with five of them returning for the 2024 season. 
 
Mary Hardy, the Racers forward, led them in scoring and assists last season with eight goals and three assists. Sophomore goalie Griselda Revolorio was named to the All-MVC freshman team a season ago. Revolorio had a save percentage of .877 and had a 0.61 goals against average which broke the program record. 
 
Defender Kate Strody joined Revolorio on the All-MVC freshman team last season. Strody made 11 starts and put four of her seven shots on target last year. 
 
Murray State put 18 shots into the net a season ago with 0.90 goals per game. MSU registered 11.1 shots per game last season with 44.1% of their shots being on goal.
 
The 2024 Racers return 17 athletes from a year ago, add six freshmen and bring in two transfers. 
 
Murray State opens their season this Thursday in Cincinnati, Ohio as they take on Big 12 member, Cincinnati, before coming to Cape Girardeau on Sunday.