Southeast Missouri women's soccer was predicted to finish third in the Ohio Valley Conference this season in a poll of the league’s soccer coaches and sports information directors.
The Redhawks received two first-place votes and 99 points in the projected order of finish for third. SIUE, the 2021 Spring OVC Tournament Champions, was picked first, and Murray State, the Regular Season Champions in the spring, was pegged in the second place spot.
The Redhawks finished last school year’s spring campaign with a 7-4-1 record, posting a 6-3-1 OVC record for third in the league. SEMO qualified for its fourth-straight Tournament and finished as the 2021 Spring OVC Championship Tournament runners-up.
Senior midfielder Lauren Welker was tabbed to the 2021 OVC Players to Watch List.
Welker, a senior from Jackson, Missouri, was named to her first career OVC preseason team. The Jackson High School alum led the Redhawks' offensive charge with six goals and four assists, for a total of 16 points in the spring.
Welker also registered a team-best 18 shots including 12 on goal and tallied a pair of game-winning goals.
Welker is one of eight Redhawks soccer student-athletes from the local southeast Missouri region. She is joined on the roster by fellow Jackson High School graduates Katelyn Miller, Taylor Nelson, Grace Crowden, and Natalie Miller; Saxony Lutheran graduate Emma Brune; and a pair of Notre Dame High School graduates Abby Rollet and Megan Heisserer.
SEMO Soccer will open the regular season on Sunday, August 22 against Maryville University.
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