Eastern Illinois (1-5) vs. Eastern Kentucky (1-4)
Tuesday, March 23
1 pm at Charleston, Ill. (Lakeside Field)
Live Stats | Watch on ESPN+
Eastern Illinois at Austin Peay (2-4)
Friday, March 26
2 pm at Clarksville, Tenn.
Live Stats | Watch on ESPN+
ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois enters week four of the Ohio Valley Conference season as the Panthers will host Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday before traveling to Austin Peay on Friday. EIU fell to 1-5 on the year as they surrendered a late goal last Tuesday at home to Southeast Missouri before a road loss on Friday at Belmont. Eastern Kentucky enters at 1-4 on the year. Austin Peay is 2-4.
SHOT EFFICIENCY: Transfer
Zenaya Barnes has been the most accurate attacker for Eastern Illinois through the opening six matches of the season. Barnes has a team high six shots this year with five of those attacks being shots on goal for a .833 attack percentage. Transfer
Amanda DaSilva is second on the team at .667 with two of her three shots this season on net.
SHOTS LEADERS: Eastern Illinois has had a number of players with shots this season with 13 of the Panthers 19 field players that have seen action registering at least one shot this season.
Zenaya Barnes is the team leader with six shots.
Haylee Renick,
Itxaso Aguero,
Nicoletta Anuci and
Jenna Little are all tied for second on the team with five shots this season.
LOGGING MINUTES: Eastern Illinois has now played 560 minutes through six matches this season. During those six matches 19 field players have seen time on the pitch. Through the first six matches only two players –
Lauren Frick and
Kenzie Balcerak – have never left the field this season. Frick is a transfer from Hampton that starts as a defender. Balcerak also plays in the back row but came forward to assist on the Panthers match winning goal against Morehead State.
Mara Kades and
Eva Munoz have also played more than 500 minutes this spring.
SAVES LEADER: Eastern Illinois goalkeeper
Daniela Bermeo has made 37 saves on the season which currently leads the Ohio Valley Conference. She has played all 560 minutes in the net with a pair of overtime contests. She currently has a 2.09 goals against average. Bermeo's 37 saves place her 21st in saves per match in the NCAA.
EIU WITHOUT GOALS: Eastern Illinois enters week four of the OVC schedule ranked last in the conference in goals scored this season with just one. That goal came off the foot of
Haylee Renick as a match winner in overtime against Morehead State. In 2019, EIU opened the OVC season without a goal in its first four matches and then exploded for three goals in each of its next two matches ending the year with ten goals in league play.
SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois and Eastern Kentucky will be meeting for the 17th time when the two schools meet on Tuesday. EKU now holds an 8-7-1 lead in the series after winning last year's match-up, 1-0. This will be the 19th meeting between EIU and Austin Peay. The Panthers hold a 9-6-3 all-time series lead. The two schools tied in their last meeting, 1-1, with EIU winning the 2018 contest.
NEXT UP: After this week's matches with Eastern Kentucky and Austin Peay, EIU will have just one match in week five of the OVC season as the Panthers will host Jacksonville State on Tuesday, March 30. The season ends for EIU on the road on April 6 at Murray State.
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR: Eastern Illinois added to its international roster during the off season as the Panthers added freshmen Ash Harvie from Australia and
Mara Kades from Germany. EIU also brought in
Serra Pizano who is a native of New York, but attended high school in Singapore. Those three players join EIU's four players from Spain (
Daniela Bermeo,
Pilar Barrio,
Itxaso Aguero and
Eva Munoz),
Victoria Wharton from Canada and
Niondina Nystrom from Sweden.
HEAD COACH: Jake Plant enters his third 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. Last year he once again took EIU to the OVC Tournament winning a first round match. He enters his third season with a record of 10-18-10 with a 6-8-6 record in OVC matches. He is a native of Birmingham, England. He is assisted by
Dirk Bennett.
OVC SEASON: The Ohio Valley Conference season will look a little different this year as the teams will play their fall season this spring. Teams will play Tuesday and Friday matches with alternating matches between home and away, so no team is on the road for both matches in the same week. In the format, EIU will host Morehead State, SIUE, Southeast Missouri, Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State. Teams in the OVC will only play a 10-match conference schedule this spring.
