Live Stats Friday | Game Notes | UTM WSoccer | MSU WSoccer

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois women's soccer continues Ohio Valley Conference play with a home-and-away weekend against two of the league's preseason favorites, taking on UT Martin at home Friday and Murray State on the road Sunday.

 

Kickoff Friday at Lakeside Field is slated for 3:30 p.m. Sunday's game in Murray, Ky., is set to begin at 1 p.m.

 

The Panthers (5-4-4, 1-0-1 OVC) have already had both of their open dates in conference play and are scheduled to play Friday-Sunday each of the next three weekends. Eastern puts its six-game unbeaten streak (4-0-2) in OVC play dating back to last season on the line this weekend.

 

Due to a scheduling quirk, UT Martin (5-5, 2-1 OVC) will be making its first appearance at Lakeside Field since the opening round of the 2006 OVC Tournament. The Skyhawks, tabbed second in the preseason poll, have surrendered a conference-low eight goals in their 10 games this season.

 

Murray State (4-6-1, 2-1 OVC) is the defending OVC regular-season champion and finally gets to play a league home game this weekend. Southeast Missouri also visits Cutchin Field Friday. The preseason favorite Racers have surrendered 24 goals in 11 games entering the weekend. Only Austin Peay has given up more.

 

The Panthers will carry a pair of notable streaks at Lakeside Field into Friday. Eastern has scored in 10 straight home games dating back to last season, the second-longest streak of that kind in program history. And after shutting out Western Illinois and Austin Peay in its last two home games, EIU has not surrendered a goal in 241 consecutive minutes at Lakeside Field.

 

UT Martin has defeated the Panthers each of the last two years in northwest Tennessee, posting its first victories in the all-time series in the process. Sarah Rusk scored her first career goal in the 2007 overtime loss.

 

The Skyhawks have enjoyed a great deal of offensive balance this season, with 11 different UTM players accounting for the team's 14 goals.

 

Friday's game will also feature the league's top two goalkeepers in goals against average in UTM's Aubrey Buehler (0.82), a true freshman, and EIU's Jenny Williams (0.84). Williams shutout the Skyhawks twice in Charleston as a freshman in 2006.

 

UT Martin has posted four of its five wins and scored 12 of its 14 goals this season at home, highlighted by a 2-0 victory against Murray State Sunday. The Skyhawks recorded their lone road win thus far Sept. 27 at Jacksonville State.

 

The Racers jump-started their season by sweeping their Jacksonville State-Tennessee Tech road trip the opening weekend of conference play. Murray State ranks second in the OVC with 22 goals, but nine came in a home victory against Alabama A&M.

 

Alexis Miller has scored two of her eight career goals against the Racers. She bent in a corner kick around the goal post in EIU's last visit to Cutchin Field, as the Panthers won a 2007 OVC Tournament opening-round game in overtime. She also scored the game-tying goal in a 2006 draw in Charleston.

 

Danielle McMurray ranks second in the OVC with five goals but is one of five Racers with at least three goals this season. Freshman Katie Walsh has started each of the last seven games in goal, although she did split time with returning starter Tara Isbell Sunday in the loss at UTM. Isbell was the OVC Defensive Player of the Year in 2008.

Friday's game marks the sixth consecutive week in which EIU has played at home. That streak concludes next weekend when the Panthers close out the home portion of their regular-season schedule.

More Info: Contact Ben Turner, Asst. SID