SEMO soccer narrowly defeated the Columbia College Cougars by a score of 1-0 on Sept. 14.

The Redhawks started the game well, as 4 minutes in after a long pass was lofted over the defense, Sophomore forward Cayla Koerner ran around the keeper while she was one-on-one, and shot, however the ball was cleared off the line by a cougars defender.

The first half was mainly played in the midfield, as both teams tried to dominate the possession of the ball, which led to only 3 more shots being taken by both teams.

The second half opened with the Redhawks on the back foot as the Cougars pressed heavily, causing shots on goal, and the momentum to shift their way.

All of this changed around 20 minutes into the half, as the Redhawks began dominating possession in the midfield again and pushed their momentum forward. This culminated in a goal in the 25th minute of the half.

A corner was swung in by freshman midfielder Justi Nelson to the back post, and was buried into the net by senior midfielder Emma Brune.

“I just saw the ball and wanted it in the back of the net, we needed that goal,” Brune said.

The Redhawks continued to look for another goal for the rest of the game, but the Cougars pressed hard for the final 15 minutes.

This momentum was not enough to win them the game however, as the Redhawks defense held off the cougars to win the game 1-0

“I got to give a lot of credit to my girls in front of me, my three person backline was always strong throughout the game,” Sophomore goalkeeper Sofia Elfrink said. “We (also) did a good job of doubling back from the midfield at the end which I think get us the ball out quick, so I got to give all the credit to them.”

The Redhawks, now with back-to-back wins, will travel to Western Illinois on Sept. 21 for the first conference game of the season.

“We will be super excited to get into OVC play, I think we’ve been really well tested playing Big 10, Big 12 schools, and we’re just excited to show what we can do at the midmajor level,” Head coach Heather Nelson said.

The Redhawks say they are ready for the challenge of being on the road, especially after beating notable programs like SIU and Murray State on the road,. both by a score of 2-0.

“I think that coming out on someone else’s turf especially for the first conference game is always good because we have nothing to lose, it’s showing all of the other conference teams that we got a team and we can compete,” Said graduate student defender Natalie Jackson.