Sept. 1, 2005

Cape Girardeau, Mo. - The 1-0 Southeast Missouri State University women's soccer team will open the home season by hosting perennial power Saint Louis University on Friday, 7 p.m., at Houck Stadium.

It will be the first regular season meeting ever between the two nearby rivals. "When Saint Louis was in Conference USA they had very little flexibility in scheduling, but now they have changed conferences and we were able to get them on the schedule," said Southeast coach Heather Nelson. "They are currently ranked 10th in the Central Region and I feel confident they will be an NCAA tournament team. It will be a big test for us and a chance to bring more prestige to our soccer program."

The Billikens are 1-1 with an overtime loss to Oklahoma and a 3-1 win over Rice. "They are a very good team with excellent team speed," Nelson said. "They have good depth at every position and they are a very attack oriented team.

"I feel our squad is very focused and we feel we have some good match-ups. It is certainly a very good test for us."

Southeast is 1-0 after a 2-0 win over IUPUI in the Austin Peay Tournament. "We need to stay composed and play a possession type game to win over Saint Louis," Nelson said. "We will have to compete for every loose ball and we will have to take some physical risks."

The Billikens are composed mainly of players from St. Louis and the majority of the Southeast players are from the metropolitan St. Louis area.

"It will be a very emotional game for our players because they will be playing against former club teammates or high school rivals," Nelson said. There won't be any strangers out there."