Eastern Illinois (2-1-3) at Central Michigan (1-5)
Sunday, September 11
12 pm at Mount Pleasant, Mich.
Live Stats
ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois looks for its second straight road win as the Panthers look to bounce back from their first loss of the season, a 2-1 setback in a rain soaked match at home last Sunday. EIU had tied the match at 1-1 before NIU was able to score in the final 10 minutes. EIU had snapped a four-year road losing skid the previous Thursday with a 3-1 win at Illinois State. Central Michigan enters a 1-5 on the season following a loss to Michigan in their last contest.
LITTLE SCORES AGAIN: Jenna Little scored again for the Panthers as she found the back of the net for the Panthers third goal of the match at Illinois State. Little leads the Panthers with three goals this season after she had a brace in the 2-0 win over Purdue Fort Wayne in the opening week of the season. During the exhibition season Little scored two goals with one each against Illinois Springfield and IUPUI.
RANGEL FINDS A GOAL: Eastern Illinois had its third different player score a goal in last Sunday's loss to Northern Illinois as
Karima Rangel scored in the second half. Rangel joins
Jenna Little (3 goals) and
Zoe Paxton in the goal scoring column this season. Rangel's goal was assisted by
Kenzie Balcerak and
Amanda DaSilva. It was DaSilva's second assist this season as five different Panthers have an assist this year. Last season EIU had a total of six different players score goals over the course of the season.
SECOND BEST START IN SCHOOL HISTORY: Eastern Illinois got off to the second best start to a season in program history as the Panthers were unbeaten through their first five matches of the season. The best start to a year was the 1996 season when EIU opened 9-0 as they finished that season with a 16-4 record including a 4-1 record playing in the Missouri Valley Conference. Already this season EIU has set a school record for consecutive shutouts with four to open the season. EIU suffered its first loss of the 2022 season in a rain soaked 2-1 set-back to Northern Illinois.
BERMEO NAMED OVC GOALKEEPER OF THE WEEK: Daniela Bermeo was named the OVC Goalkeeper of the Week for a second straight week. Bermeo had two more clean sheets last week as EIU played to a pair of scoreless draws against Indiana State and UIC with both matches on the road. The four straight shutouts are a program record. Bermeo stopped both Sycamore shots on goal with EIU's defensive backline not allowing a second half shot on goal. On Sunday she was up to the task in net stopping eight shots on goal. The Panthers played the final four minutes of the contest a player down due to a red card. Bermeo surrendered her first goal of the season late in the second half in the road win at Illinois State.
PAXTON NAMED OVC DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Freshman
Zoe Paxton was named the OVC Defender of the Week after the Panthers posted a pair of shutouts on the road at Indiana State and UIC. Paxton helped shore up the Panthers defensive backline as they posted back-to-back shutouts extending the season opening shutout streak to a program record four straight. She played 71 of 90 minutes on Thursday at Indiana State as EIU did not allow a second half shot on goal in the 0-0 draw. On Sunday in the 0-0 tie at UIC she was one of two field players to play all 90 minutes. EIU's defense helped not allow a goal and played the final four minutes of the match a player down due to a red card. Paxton is the second straight EIU player to win OVC Defender of the Week honors joining
Sarah Hagg who won after the opening weekend.
LITTLE WITH A BRACE IN EIU WIN: Jenna Little scored both of Eastern Illinois goals in EIU's August 21, 2-0 win over Purdue Fort Wayne. Little had one goal during the 2021 season against Morehead State and had scored two goals during exhibition play. Last season EIU had two players
Nicoletta Anuci (against Illinois Springfield) and
Zenaya Barnes (against Murray State) score two goals in a match.
OVC PLAYER TO WATCH: Amanda DaSilva was named the Eastern Illinois player to watch in the OVC this season. A veteran player, DaSilva will slide to the Panthers back line this season after starting 16 of 17 contests last season. She was one of four field players to log more than 1,200 minutes on the pitch last season.
RETURNING ALL-OVC: Eastern Illinois returns two All-Ohio Valley Conference performers from last season in
Zenaya Barnes and
Sarah Hagg. Barnes was a second team All-OVC selection at forward. Hagg was a second team All-OVC selection at defender while also earning All-OVC Newcomer honors.
LIFT FOR LIFE: Eastern Illinois women's soccer once again took part in the Lift for Life event which raises money in the fight against Rare Diseases.
Kenzie Balcerak and
Jenna Little have spearheaded the women's soccer participation in this event which was originally done by the EIU football team. The annual fundraiser is done in conjunction with Uplifting Athletes took place on Aug. 19.
RULE CHANGE: The NCAA no longer will have overtime sessions during regular season play. Last season EIU had three overtime contests picking up two draws while losing a third game in the extra session. The Panthers have played three or more overtime matches in each of the last four seasons with six of those contests resulting in a win or loss for EIU.
SERIES HISTORY: This will be just the second meeting between Eastern Illinois and Central Michigan. The Chippewas won the previous meeting last season with a 1-0 win in Charleston.
NEXT UP: After playing just one match this weekend, EIU will be back at home for a pair of matches next weekend as they host Western Illinois on Friday, Sept. 16 and open Ohio Valley Conference play hosting Tennessee Tech on Sunday, Sept. 18. Both matches are at Lakeside Field.
HEAD COACH: Jake Plant enters his fifth 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 fifth season with a record of 16-36-13 with an 10-20-8 record in OVC matches having made the OVC Tournament in three of four seasons. He is a native of Birmingham, England. He is assisted by
Dirk Bennett.
