For more than 18 minutes in the second half of Friday's semifinal at Houck Stadium, Southeast (14-4-1) looked to be in jeopardy of suffering another Ohio Valley Conference tournament disappointment.

But with 17 minutes left in the game forward Erin Slattery scored to tie it, and with a little over five minutes left freshman Megan Hejlek scored the game-winner to set up a rematch of last year's OVC championship.

Southeast beat Tennessee Tech 2-1 and advanced to play Eastern Illinois at 2 p.m. Sunday at Houck Stadium.

"We've been waiting a year for Sunday to come," Southeast coach Heather Nelson said of the championship game.

But to earn their second straight OVC championship berth the Otahkians had to handle the pressure of Tennessee Tech. Despite a scoreless first half Tech had several good chances and found a way to chip away at Southeast's strong defense.

"They gave us a great game," Nelson said.

Top-seeded Southeast started the second half strong, but Tennessee Tech forward Ashley Vidal slipped by the Southeast defense 10 minutes into the half and gave Tech a 1-0 lead. After falling behind a goal Nelson switched OVC player of the year Valerie Henderson to the backfield to utilize her speed.

Nelson said she hoped the move would help stimulate the offense.

"At that point you're not thinking about winning, you're thinking about getting a goal," she said.

Shortly after the switch Southeast started to find offensive rhythm. Henderson had a good chance off of a run from the backfield, and freshman Ashley DeRoy had several good shots.

With Tech playing on its heels, Southeast broke through on a cross by Diana Poovey. Slattery deflected the cross off the post and into the net.

Tennessee Tech coach Greg Stone said his team got into too much of a defensive mindset after they took the lead.

"When we scored we kind of bunkered back a bit," he said.

Every possession became tense for the Southeast and Tennessee Tech faithful as the teams traded scoring chances late in the game. The ball bounced from head to head in Southeast's goalbox until the Otahkian defense finally cleared it out of danger.

The Otahkians grabbed the lead on a Hejlek header in the waning minutes. Hejlek took Marla Gianino's corner kick and squeezed it over the heads of several Tech defenders.

Southeast forward Lisa Schweppe said the team may have worried a little once it got down, but the players knew they could come back.

"We're confident enough if we get down we'll get back up," she said. "We'll never give up until the end."

The win sets up the rematch with defending OVC champion Eastern Illinois (11-7-2).

"In the back of our minds we wanted to play Eastern really bad," Schweppe said.

Southeast goalie Amanda Wrzos had six saves in the win.

In the first semifinal, Eastern Illinois won 1-0 over Tennessee-Martin. The Panthers took the lead with less than five minutes left on a goal by junior forward Teri LaRoche.

Tennessee-Martin goalie Caryn Scheufler kept the Skyhawks in the game in the second half with several spectacular saves. Despite controlling possession for much of the second half, Tennessee-Martin could never put strong shots on goal.

jjoffray@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 171