Game Notes | Live Stats

CHARLESTON, Ill. – For the team's lone back-to-back home games of the Ohio Valley Conference season this year, Eastern Illinois women's soccer hosts Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State at Lakeside Field this weekend.

 

Eastern Kentucky (3-7-2, 1-2 OVC) comes to town Friday for just the second time since the program began play in 2005. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.

 

Sunday, the Panthers (0-11-1, 0-3 OVC) host Morehead State (5-6-1, 2-0-1 OVC) at 2:30 p.m. The game was originally slated to be game two of an EIU soccer doubleheader. However, the men's game against Oral Roberts was moved to Monday.

 

Eastern is scheduled to host a postgame youth soccer clinic, open to all elementary school age students, at approximately 4:15 p.m. Sunday.

 

The Panthers have defeated EKU in shutout fashion in each of the first three meetings between the two schools. Pam Melinauskas had a breakout game against the Colonels in 2006, scoring her first career goal and assisting on a pair of second-half scores en route to earning OVC Player of the Week honors.

 

Eastern Kentucky was picked to qualify for the OVC Tournament in the league's preseason poll, and that has been the team's goal this season. The Colonels are 1-2 in conference play, but both losses came in overtime. Morehead won 3-2 in Richmond on the opening Friday of OVC play. Last week, EKU lost at Tennessee Tech in the 92nd minute.

 

However, Eastern Kentucky ended a seven-game winless streak Sunday with a 3-0 shutout victory of Austin Peay. The Colonels' most impressive result of the season thus far, though, was a season-opening draw against a Western Kentucky team that is 8-0-3 entering the week and has posted wins against EIU, Morehead and Murray State.

 

Morehead State carries a 1-6 record in true road games into its game Friday night at Southeast Missouri. That lone victory on an opponent's pitch was the overtime affair at EKU. The Eagles are playing well as of late though, posting a 5-3-1 record since opening the season 0-3.

 

Eastern won the first nine all-time meetings with Morehead, but the tables have been turned the last two years. The Panthers have not posted a victory in the series since 2005. The two teams met twice in 2006. After playing to a scoreless draw at Lakeside Field in October, the Eagles ended EIU's season in the semifinals of the OVC Tournament.

 

Last season in Kentucky, Erin Adams scored twice in a 2-0 MSU victory. Adams enters the weekend with four goals this season, ranking second on the team to Jillian Birchmeier, who tied a school record with four goals in a victory against Tennessee Tech Sunday. Not surprisingly, the freshman earned OVC Player of the Week honors for her breakout performance.

 

Morehead State leads the league with eight goals in its first three conference games. With 25 goals overall, the Eagles rank second to only Jacksonville State. However, nine of those scores have come against non-Division I competition.

Eastern and Morehead have played a number of the same non-conference opponents. Besides Western Kentucky, the Eagles have also lost to Evansville and Purdue, and beaten Indiana State. Morehead has also lost at Illinois State, which the Panthers play in their regular-season finale.

More Info: Contact Ben Turner, Asst. SID