By ANTHONY SHINGLER | Senior Staff Writer

After clinching their spot in the OVC Tournament last weekend against Tennessee Tech, the APSU Lady Govs took care of business against future Ohio Valley Conference foe SIU-Edwardsville, Sunday, Oct. 31. in a 2-1 win to close out the regular season.

“With the number of players we had out today, this is a really good win for us,” head coach Kelley Guth said. “We had a chance to get some players on the field and give them some experience today. They did really well and that’s a great sign. Going into the tournament, we are counting on some players stepping up.”

The Lady Govs jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead when Tatiana Ariza found the back of the net for the ninth time this season off an assist from her sister Natalia Ariza in the 17th minute. A few minutes later, Natalia Ariza blasted home a penalty kick for a 2-0 lead in the 25th minute. The goal was her fourth of the season and second in two games.

“The biggest thing in this game was for us to make sure we were attacking out of the midfield and making them defend,” Guth said. “We wanted to do a better job of reading defenders and finding the final pass for execution. We did a better job of that today.”

SIU-Edwardsville would find stride in the 90th minute by a strike from Chelsey Johnston from Ashley Davidson. But it was too little to late. SIU-Edwardsville (8-7-1) will be joining the OVC in the 2011 season. During the 2010 season, they mustered a few wins against Murray State, Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Illinois.

“They’ve had a very good year and are going to be great competition coming into the conference,” Guth said. “This is a big win on the road and it gives us some added confidence going into the tournament.”

With this game coming before the conference tournament, Guth used the game as an opportunity to rest key Lady Govs who were injured, as well as emphasize set pieces.

That focus on set pieces led to the set up of the game’s first goal, when freshman Tatiana Ariza scored from a corner kick from freshman Emily Kink.

“We moved Emily to the back today,” Guth said. “She played 90 minutes at outside back and did very well. For her as a freshman to make that move, she really stepped up and was solid all day. Joceline and Natalia played excellent in the midfield for us today also.”

APSU returns to action when the 2010 OVC Championship kicks off at Morehead State, Thursday, Nov. 4. APSU will go on to face Murray State at 8 p.m and the winner faces Southeast Missouri. TAS

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