Southeast Missouri State soccer team gears up for season with first practice

By 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon the Southeast Missouri State women's soccer team was already on the turf at Houck Stadium for its second practice of the preseason -- and the Redhawks still weren't done for the day.

The defending Ohio Valley Conference regular-season co-champions officially began practices at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning and were going to follow up the afternoon session with another at 7:30 p.m. with each lasting an hour and a half.

The extensive training didn't bother the Redhawks, though.

"I've really missed playing," said sophomore goalkeeper Kindra Lierz, who was the Ohio Valley Conference freshman of the year and defensive player of the year last season. "I stayed here for the summer and did summer workouts with a couple of the girls, but I'm ready to just get back in the rhythm of everything and start playing games and competing with everyone."

Southeast coach Heather Nelson, who begins her 17th season alongside her husband and associate head coach Paul Nelson, said that three-a-days will continue for at least three consecutive days followed by a recovery day.

Each morning practice will be spent on the team working on quick touches and possession in a limited area. The afternoon and evening sessions will be what Nelson calls "pod training" where they'll focus on one specific area of the team.

"My first take on what I saw this morning is I feel like we again have taken a step forward in how technical and in our overall athleticism," Nelson said. "I believe that we're quicker and I feel good that we have a little bit more depth again, too. Lots of positives for me came out of this morning's session and finally getting to see the kids compete against each other."

Southeast Missouri State soccer players practice, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015, at Houck Stadium in Cape Girardeau. (Laura Simon)

For Wednesday's afternoon "pod training," which Nelson implemented last year, the team was going to focus solely on one-on-one defending. The team's best attackers will face the defenders but the only instruction is given to the defense.

"The girls have given us real good feedback because when we specialize we get to focus on a group of maybe eight or nine players," Nelson said. "For us to make a connection with them and for them to be on completely the same page with us we've found that our afternoon sessions are really, really good."

Three players were scheduled to have a fourth training session, which Nelson joked was "additional quality time with me" because they did not pass the program's stringent fitness test.

Nelson was impressed that there were so few who didn't test out because the fitness standards were raised this year. Players have to complete a mile and a half run in 9 minutes, 40 seconds or less as well as complete a "gasser test" where they run sprints down and back on the Houck field four times before a brief jog and then rest period. They repeat that seven times.

"Yeah, it's awful," Nelson said with a laugh. "I get to see that -- one, I know we can focus on soccer when they pass that, and also if they pass that I know that their mental toughness is there so when we're in the last 10 minutes of a game or we're in overtime they're going to look over here and I'll go, 'Hey, you've done it all. There's not anything worse that this team can do to us here that we haven't already put you through.'"

Nelson was unable to evaluate her team during the offseason even if players were only completing conditioning or strength-training workouts due to NCAA rules.

She was pleased with the improvements they'd made without her monitoring them, which she chalks up to the types of players she's able to recruit.

Assistant head coach Paul Nelson leads players as the Southeast Missouri State soccer team practices, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015, at Houck Stadium in Cape Girardeau. (Laura Simon)

"When I get a character kid they are people that don't want to let other people down -- they put our team first," Nelson said.

A group of about eight of the Redhawks regularly worked out on campus, including Lierz, with others that lived less than two hours away traveling back to Cape Girardeau to join in periodically.

"I feel like I've gotten stronger during the summer," Lierz said. "I did a lot of weight lifting and just focusing on that. And then all those freshmen jitters are gone, so it's just focusing on me improving and getting our team where we need to be and back to that championship."

Other players competed on their club teams during the offseason while OVC first-team all-conference forward Natasha Minor spent the summer in California playing alongside elite collegiate players and national team players for the North Bay FC Wave as part of the Women's Premier Soccer League.

"I think going out there I was greatly blessed to be able to improve my speed of play so hopefully I can help the team in that aspect," Minor said.

Minor and Lierz are part of a group of 16 returners from last year's conference championship team that finished 11-6 and 8-2 in the OVC. The top-seeded Redhawks lost 1-0 in the semifinals of the conference tournament. Nine newcomers join the team.

Southeast hosts Memphis in an exhibition game at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and begins its season at Division II Missouri S&T in Rolla, Missouri, on Aug. 21.

The Redhawks' first regular-season home game is Aug. 23 against Northern Iowa and they begin OVC action at home against SIU Edwardsville on Sept. 25.

"Hardwork, dedication, effort and passion, which this team has a whole bunch of," Minor said of what it'll take to repeat as OVC championships. "I'm really excited about that because we have some freshmen that came in and already today they made an impact on the field. They went hard and they opened eyes, and that's awesome to see. I think it's a great starting point for this program and for the future of our team."