CHARLESTON, Ill. --Eastern Illinois women's rugby will continue the squad's late-season road play on Saturday (Nov.3), traveling to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to face the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State, with kickoff moved to an 11 a.m. start.

EIU sits at 4-2 on the season following a 2-1 rugby 7s road win at Lindenwood last weekend.

ALL-TIME EIU/MTSU SERIES
This will mark the second all-time meeting with MTSU, as EIU previously downed the Blue Raiders, 48-0, back in the spring of 2000.

RUGBY 10-VERSUS-10
Like the previous contests, the format for Saturday's game at MTSU will be ten-on-ten, but utilizing the normal Rugby 15s rules, just pared down team-wise.

The game set-up has been pre-determined by both the respective head coaches, as the Panther squad is down to just 10 players following some injuries and other player issues at this point in the season.

PANTHERS ADD GEORGIA TECH TO 2012 SLATE
Saturday's game at MTSU was previously going to be the season finale for the Panthers, but head coach Frank Graziano was able to secure another road contest next week.

EIU will now travel to Atlanta to face the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech on Sunday, Nov. 11, with kickoff scheduled for 11 a.m.

QUOTING COACH GRAZIANO
"Going back to playing 10-on-10 this weekend after picking up our first rugby 7s win at Lindenwood last weekend, which came about due to some injuries.
 
It'll be nice to play full tens again as we'll be able to utilize our more traditional game plan.  MTSU is actually looking forward to playing 10s and excited about it, as they feel they have the squad to play competitively in that style of game.
 
(On adding the game at Georgia Tech) We needed a ninth game on our schedule, which I've been trying to arrange as of late, and the last few weeks Georgia Tech was able to fit us into their schedule, so it worked out perfectly.  We've never played them before so should be a good trip.
 
We've always had good success playing down south, so the timing worked out perfect as we won't miss any class time since we'll play on Sunday.  It will definitely be a good way to end the season.
 
Carissa Burge is having a nice second half of the season after I moved her into the scrum-half position, which she's been doing really well with.  Ellen Wilson has also improved a lot and beginning to tackle very well right now, which has allowed her to start enjoying that aspect of the game.

Right now we are fit and healthy and all of our work is starting to show up now as we come to the end of the season."

SATURDAY WEATHER PROJECTION
According to weather.com, the weather in Murfreesboro, Tenn., on Saturday is expected to reach a high of 71 during the day with partly cloudy skies and just a 20% chance of inclement weather.

NEXT UP FOR THE PANTHERS
EIU will finish up the 2012 slate with an 11 a.m. season-ending road contest at Georgia Tech on Nov. 11.

... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID