Sept. 27, 2006

Cape Girardeau, Mo. - Off to a 2-0 start and in first place in the Ohio Valley Conference, the Southeast Missouri State University women's soccer team goes on the road to face long time nemesis Eastern Illinois.

The key OVC contest is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday in Charleston, Ill.

"We had two great wins over Tennessee-Martin and Murray State to open league play, but now we face our biggest rival on the road at Eastern Illinois," said Southeast coach Heather Nelson. "We always seem to match up well with EIU and it is always a very emotional game."

Southeast, 5-4 overall and 2-0 in the OVC, opened league play with a 1-0 win over Tennessee-Martin and a 2-0 win over Murray State. "Our defense did a great job in both games," Nelson said. "Casey Kraft and Jessie Wuellner really compliment each other in the central defense and Lindsay Pickering has been unbelievable in goal."

Offensively, the Redhawks got their only goal in the UT-Martin game from sophomore Nichole Bussman who was selected as the OVC offensive player of the week. Against Murray State, junior Margie Scheffler had a goal and an assist with freshman Courtney Alexander also scoring.

Alexander leads Southeast with seven goals this season.

"In order to get a big road win at Eastern Illinois, we will have to play our game," Nelson said. "We have to control the speed of play and possession and we have to be able to create our attack."

After Friday's match, Southeast will be idle until an October 6 game at Austin Peay.