Eastern Illinois vs. University of Chicago
Thursday, August 22
5pm – Charleston, Illinois (Lakeside Field)
 
Eastern Illinois vs. University of Chicago
Monday, August 26
5pm – Charleston, Illinois (Lakeside Field)
 
ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois prepares to begin its 2024 season on Thursday night at Lakeside Field in Charleston, Illinois. The panthers look to carry over their success from the pre-season after hosting two exhibition matches against Governors State University and Parkland College. EIU is coming off a 4-10-5 record after advancing to the second round of the OVC tournament in 2023. University of Chicago finished their 2023 season with a record of 11-3-6. EIU will then host Detroit Mercy on Monday, who finished with a 5-10-3 record a year ago.
 
NEXT UP: Following the opening weekend matches, The Panthers are set to take on Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday, August 29 before hitting the road for a six-game road trip over the month of September. EIU will begin their OVC action on the road when they take on Southern Indiana on Saturday, September 28 and will return to Lakeside field to take on Incarnate Word on Thursday, October 10.
 
RETURNING ALL-OVC: Eastern Illinois has one returning player who earned Al-Ohio Valley Conference honors las season. Graduate Student Sam Eccles was second team All-OVC a season ago as he led The Panthers in total points and shots.
 
OVC PLAYER TO WATCH: Eccles was also named as EIU's Ohio Valley Conference preseason player to watch after a strong 2023 campaign. He looks to build off of his numbers from a season ago as he logged 1381 total minutes and started all 18 games he appeared in.
 
GOAL PRODUCTION RETURNING: In addition, Eastern Illinois returns the next two points leaders from the 2023 season, Casey Welage and Felipe Kerr Lourenco. Welage finished the season with six points as Kerr Lourenco was close behind with five. Sophomore Kyle Kimberling is set to return as well as he finished the season as the Panthers second leading goal scorer.  
 
BATTLE IN THE NET: In 2023, Eastern Illinois had three goalkeepers who shared time throughout the season. Senior Chad Smith held the box for a majority of the seasons matches as he started in 11 of the 12 games that he appeared in.  In addition, EIU returns two other goalkeepers from last season, Joseph Whelan and Kyce Toutanji. Joseph and Toutanju each earned starts in all games that they appeared in. Additionally, the Panthers add one more body in goal in redshirt freshman Lucas Ortiz.
 
SEASON OPENERS: Eastern Illinois enters the 2024 season with a record of 3-11-3 in opening matches. The Panthers won their season opener in 2023 as they defeated Governors State 1-0 but fell to Green Bay in their opener in 2022.
                                                     
SERIES HISTORY: This marks the first match-up between EIU and the University of Chicago as their home-opener match-up from 2023 was canceled.
 
HEAD COACH: Josh Oakley enters his third season as the head coach of the EIU men's soccer program. Oakley spent two years on the Eastern Illinois staff as an assistant coach from 2000-02. He was hired as 11th head coach in EIU men's soccer program history in June of 2022 and guided EIU to an OVC Tournament semifinal appearance with a first-round win over Liberty. Prior to EIU, Oakley was the Head coach of Lansing Common FC in the Midwest Premier League. During his time in the MWPL, Lansing Common FC produced three MWPL Golden Boot Award winners (given to the league's top goal scorer).