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Eastern Illinois (4-8-2 / 2-3-1 OVC) vs. SIUE (6-6, 3-2 OVC)
Tuesday, October 19
3 pm at Lakeside Field (Charleston, Ill.)   
Live Stats

Eastern Illinois at Austin Peay (3-9-3, 0-5-1 OVC)
Thursday, October 21
6 pm at Clarksville, Tenn.    
Watch on ESPN+  |  Live Stats
 
ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois enters its final week of the regular season with the team's post-season fate solely in their hands.   EIU will host SIUE on Tuesday in a rescheduled match from the postponed contest on Oct. 7.  EIU will then play on Thursday at Austin Peay.   EIU improved to 4-8-2 overall, 2-3-1 in the OVC with a 1-0 win over Belmont on Sunday afternoon.   SIUE at 6-6 overall, 3-2 in the OVC.    Austin Peay is 3-9-3 on the season, 0-5-1 in the OVC.
 
EIU POSTS FOURTH SHUTOUT OF THE SEASON: Eastern Illinois posted its fourth shutout of the season with a 1-0 win over Belmont.  In the match goalkeeper Faith Davies had a clean sheet making five saves in net.   It was her fourth shutout this season as the redshirt junior has a 1.71 goals against average this season.  Davies ranks first in the OVC with 81 saves and third in the league in shutouts.   
 
KORHORN WITH THE GAME WINNER: Cam Korhorn scored her first goal of the season on Sunday collecting the match winner against Belmont in the 17th minute.  Korhorn became the sixth different EIU player to score a goal this season and the fourth different player with a match winner.  She is now one of four players on the team with at-least one goal and one assist this season joining Zenaya Barnes (3 G, 1 A), Nicoletta Anuci (2 G, 1 A) and Michaela Danyo (1 G, 3 A). 
 
WIN OR TIE AND YOU'RE IN: Eastern Illinois women's soccer put itself in position to make the OVC Tournament field for the third time in the last four seasons as the Panthers picked up a 1-0 win over Belmont.  The win gave EIU seven points on the season as the Panthers are now tied for seventh in the league standings.   EIU will lock up a spot in the post-season tournament with a win or tie in either of its two matches this week.  EIU could still qualify for the post-season tournament with two losses but would then have to wait until Sunday's matches are complete to see if they qualified for the event.
 
BARNES WINS OVC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS (Oct. 5):  Zenaya Barnes had a brace in EIU's Oct. 3 win over Murray State with her second goal of the contest serving as the match winner.   Barnes now has three goals to lead the Panthers in scoring with her three goals ranking 7th in the OVC this season.   She was the second EIU player to score two goals in a match this season joining Nicoletta Anuci with a pair of goals against Illinois Springfield.   The last EIU player to win OVC Offensive Player of the Week honors was Kate Olson in 2017.
 
BALCERAK WINS OVC DEFENDER OF THE WEEK HONORS (Oct. 5): Kenzie Balcerak was named the OVC Defensive Player of the Week following her efforts during 180 minutes on the pitch in the Panthers games against UT Martin and Murray State. She would come forward and assist on two of the Panthers three goals during the week.  The last EIU player to win OVC Defensive Player of the Week honors was Lindsey Carlson in 2018. 
 
DANYO ON THE ASSIST: Michaela Danyo helped assist on both of Zenaya Barnes goals in the win over Murray State.  Danyo currently leads the Panthers with three assists this year which ranks tied for third in the OVC.   She is third on the Panthers team in points with five adding a goal in the win over Illinois Springfield.  Danyo's other assist this year was in the home win over Chicago State. 
 
FALLING IN OT: Eastern Illinois lost 1-0 in double overtime at Tennessee Tech.  The Golden Eagles goal came on a penalty kick in the 104th minute.  It was the second overtime match this season for EIU as the Panthers played to a 1-1 draw with Morehead State.   EIU has now played 11 overtime matches in the last three seasons with a 1-4-6 record in those contests. 
 
2021 SPRING HONORS: Eastern Illinois women's soccer won the OVC Sportsmanship Award for women's soccer during the 2020-21 season which was played as a league-only slate of contests in the spring of 2021.  It marked the second time in the last three years that the Panthers have won the award under head coach Jake Plant.  In addition Itxaso Aguero was named a second team All-OVC selection for her play during the spring. 
 
FIFTH YEAR LEADERS: Eastern Illinois had three players take advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to COVID-19 impacting the fall season in 2020.  EIU returns fifth year players Itxaso Aguero, Pilar Barrio and Eva Munoz.  All three players who are originally from Spain will be returning after starting matches in each of the previous four seasons.
 
THREE A MAGIC NUMBER: Eastern Illinois scored three goals during its Aug. 22 win over Illinois Springfield.  It was the sixth time in the last four seasons that EIU has scored three goals in a match, the Panthers posting a 6-0 record in those contests.  EIU's last three goal match was last spring with a 3-2 win over Jacksonville State on March 30.

SERIES HISTORY: This will be the 16th meeting between EIU and SIUE on the pitch as the two teams will play a make-up contest from the Oct. 7 match.  In that match SIUE was leading 2-0 at the half when weather forced the cancelation of the remainder of the match.  Tuesday's match will be played as a new contest.  SIUE leads the all-time series, 12-2-1, having won three straight in the series.   EIU will wrap up its regular season on Thursday playing at Austin Peay.  This will be the 20th meeting between the schools with EIU holding a 9-6-4 all-time series lead.  EIU and APSU played to a 1-1 draw during the spring with EIU winning the 2019 meeting.    
 
NEXT UP: Should the Panthers qualify, they would play in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament beginning next Friday at a campus site.  It would mark the third time in the last four seasons that EIU has advanced to the OVC Tournament reaching the semifinals in 2018 and winning an opening round match in 2019.  During the 2021 spring season, only the top four teams in the OVC qualified for the post-season tournament.

HEAD COACH: Jake Plant enters his fourth season as the head coach of the Eastern Illinois women's soccer team.  A 2014 EIU alumnus and former member of the Panthers men's soccer program, Plant was the assistant coach for both the men's and women's program for two years with one additional season as an assistant for the men's program before being named EIU women's head coach in 2018.  Plant led EIU to a 6-8-6 record in his first season including a 4-3-3 record in OVC play.  In 2019, he once again took EIU to the OVC Tournament winning a first-round match.  He enters his fourth season with a record of 12-25-11 with an 8-15-7 record in OVC matches.  He is a native of Birmingham, England.  He is assisted by Dirk Bennett.