Game 20 –Thursday, Nov. 4 @ 4 p.m.
Eastern Illinois (6-8-5) vs. Eastern Kentucky (7-9-2)
Game 21 – Friday, Nov. 5 @ 4 p.m.
Winner of EIU-EKU vs. Morehead State
Game 22 – Sunday, Nov. 7 @ 1 p.m.
OVC Championship Game
All matches available online at www.OVCSports.tv
Eastern Illinois will make its 12th consecutive appearance in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament starting on Thursday when the Panthers open up play against Eastern Kentucky. The Panthers enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed while the Colonels are the No. 5 seed. The winner of the match will face No. 1 seed Morehead State on Friday at 4 p.m. This mark's the first year that all six teams that qualified for the OVC Tournament have advanced to the same site. Other teams in the field are No. 2 seed Southeast Missouri, No. 3 seed Austin Peay and No. 6 seed Murray State. The Panthers defeated EKU during the season, picked up ties with Morehead State and Murray State and lost close contests at SEMO and APSU.
Head coach Summer Perala is in her second year leading the EIU program. A former goalkeeper at Western Illinois, Perala has compiled a 13-16-10 career record including a 6-5-5 OVC career mark. EIU has already knocked off Eastern Kentucky, 1-0 in a match played at Lakeside Field.
The Panthers had four players earn first team Academic All-District V honors on Tuesday as the team was released by CoSIDA. Hillary Blake, Jessica Blake, Ashley Eck and Kaylin Lorbert all were honored on the first team. Those four players are now eligible to be placed on the Academic All-America ballot for consideration.
EIU did not play last week as the regular-season ended on Oct. 24 with a 1-1 tie with Murray State. The Panthers will have to overcome a ten day lay-off when they return to action on Thursday. EKU, the Panthers first round opponent, did play last weekend with a 1-0 loss to Longwood. This will be EIU's first neutral site contest this year. The Panthers were a solid 5-2-2 at home while posting a 1-6-3 record away from Lakeside Field.
Senior Kaitlin Sullivan has had some goal scoring experience in OVC Tournament action for the Panthers over her previous three tournament experiences. EIU is 1-3 in the last three OVC Tournaments, but the forward has scored a goal in each of the last two OVC tournament games both played against Morehead State. In 2008 she scored the lone EIU goal in a 2-1 loss to the Eagles and while last season she teamed with Sarah Rusk to score goals in a 3-2 loss to MSU.
Senior goalkeeper Kaylin Lorbert enters the OVC Tournament ranking among the best players in net during EIU's soccer history. Lorbert has made 220 career saves which ranks 5th on the career list while her 14 career shutouts land at No. 3. Entering this weekend's tournament Lorbert has a 0.93 career goals against average which ranks first all-time. The school mark is held by Lindsay Dechert at 1.05 between 2001-04.
