Eastern Illinois vs. Evansville 

Wednesday, September 4 

7pm – Evansville, Indiana (Arad McCutchan Field)  

Watch | Live Stats 
 

ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois men's soccer hits the road for their first road match of the 2024 season as they they are set to travel to Arad McCutchan Field to take on the Evansville Aces on Wednesday evening. Game time is set for 7pm under the lights as the Panthers look to pick up their first road win of the year. Evansville enters Wednesday night's contest with a record of 3-0, defeating Southern Indiana on Sunday to claim the Mayor's Cup.  

NEXT UP: Following Wednesday Night's action, Eastern Illinois will continue their long September road stretch as they travel to Dayton, Ohio to take on the Raiders of Wright State. This contest is set to take place at Alumni Field at Rinzler Student Sports Complex, as game time is set for 6pm.  

OFFENSIVE PRODUCTION: Graduate Student Sam Eccles carried over his offensive production from the 2023 season as he was able to record two assists in the opening victory versus University of Chicago. Eccles has already reached the half-way mark in comparison to his assists from 2023, as he was able to record three just a season ago. Jackson Liley currently leads EIU with two goals on the year, logging one in each of the games so far this season. 

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.  

SERIES HISTORY: This marks the eighth meeting between the Panthers and the Aces as the last matchup between these two teams came in 2019 whn Evansville defeated EIU at Alumni Field 3-1. Evansville currently leads the all-time series 0-6-1 as Eastern Illinois looks to capture their first win in Evansville in program history.  

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).