Eastern Illinois (8-4-3, 5-0-1 OVC) at Lindenwood (6-4-4, 3-2-1 OVC)
Thursday, October 16
3 pm at St. Charles, Mo. (Hunter Stadium)
Live Stats  |  

Eastern Illinois vs. Little Rock (5-3-5, 3-0-3 OVC)
Sunday, October 19
12 pm at Charleston, Ill. (Lakeside Field)
Live Stats  |  Watch on ESPN+

 
ON-TAP:  Eastern Illinois locked up a spot in the upcoming Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with the Panthers win last Sunday at Southeast Missouri.  EIU is now 8-4-3 overall, 5-0-1 in the OVC.  It marks the third straight season EIU has qualified for the OVC tournament as they play their final three regular season matches for seeding in the event.  The Panthers start those final three matches on the road at Lindenwood which is 6-4-4 overall, 3-2-1 in the OVC.   The Panthers then host Little Rock on Sunday with the Trojans holding a 5-3-5 record, 3-0-3 in the OVC.
 
NEXT UP: Eastern Illinois wraps up the OVC regular season next Sunday, October 26 at Tennessee Tech.   The Panthers have already locked up a spot in the 2025 OVC Tournament and will be playing for tournament seeding over the final three regular season contests.
 
MORE TETTEH: Alex Tetteh scored both goals for the Panthers last week as the junior moved her career goals total to 18 which ranks her ninth on the EIU career charts.  Her match winner on Sunday at Southeast Missouri was her fourth of the season which ranks her ninth in the NCAA in match winning goals this season.   It is also tied for fifth on the EIU single season list for match winning goals.  Tetteh currently ranks second in the OVC in goals this season with eight.
 
SENIOR DAY: Eastern Illinois women's soccer will honor the seven members of its 2025 senior class on Sunday prior to the Panthers final home regular season match with Little Rock.   Set to be honored are Kate Germano, Ella Onstott, Kylie Mahoney, Ashlyn Hoover, Liz Galvin, Kayla Green and Kya Trejo.  
 
TEAM UNBEATEN STREAK: Eastern Illinois women's soccer ran its current unbeaten streak to nine straight matches with Sunday's 1-0 win at Southeast Missouri.  The win moved EIU to 6-0-3 over their last nine matches and tied the school record for longest unbeaten streak.  EIU opened the 1996 season with nine straight wins to set the school record.  The Panthers also closed the 1997 season with seven straight unbeaten contests and opened the 1998 season with two straight wins for a nine game unbeaten streak over those two seasons.   During the Panthers current unbeaten streak EIU has scored 13 goals while allowing just two.   They set the OVC record for longest scoreless stretch in OVC history in the non-overtime era at 606:10 minutes which ranks fourth all-time in OVC history.  The six consecutive shutouts during the scoreless streak are tied for the second most in OVC history. 

SPREADING THE POINTS AROUND: Alex Tetteh and Abby Reinl have seen their names at the top of the Eastern Illinois goal scoring list this season but the Panthers as a team have done a good job of spreading the points around.  Tetteh (8 goals) and Reinl (6 goals) are two of the five EIU players that have found the back of the net this season.  Ella Onstott, Ella Dwyer and Katiebeth May each have one goal.  Onstott is the Panthers co-leader in assists with three giving the senior five total points this season.  Camylle Graves also has multiple assists with three this year.  A total of eleven players have an assist this season (nine players with one each) which is the highest number of EIU players with an assist since the 2018 season when 11 players had at least one assist.
 
OVC OPENING STREAK: Eastern Illinois moved to 4-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference with a home win over Morehead State on October 5.  It matched the best start to an OVC season for the Panthers since the 2013 season when EIU opened the year 4-0 before finishing the conference slate at 6-4.  It marked just the fourth time in program history that EIU has opened an OVC season 4-0 or better.  The Panthers went undefeated in conference play (5-0 both years) in 1999 and 2000.  EIU played to a 1-1 draw with Southern Indiana before a win over Southeast Missouri on Sunday to stand at 5-0-1 in the OVC.  The five wins are the most for EIU in a conference season since going 6-4 during the 2013 season.
 
REINL WINNER: Abby Reinl scored her sixth goal of the season on October 5 accounting for the match winner against Morehead State.  It was Reinl's second match winner this season and the fifth of her career.  The goal moved Reinl into the EIU carer top ten for goals scored where she currently sits tied for 10th with Audra Frericks (2001-04) with 17 career goals.
 
TETTEH SETS RECORD, WINS AWARDS: Junior forward Alex Tetteh had a memorable week in the Panthers road wins at Western Illinois and UT Martin.  Against WIU she tied the OVC and EIU single match record for goals scored with four.  She became the third EIU player to accomplish the feat joining Tracie Strother (1996 vs Little Rock) and Beth Aussin (1996 vs Lewis).  Tetteh is the eighth OVC player to score four goals in a match, the last was SIUE's Kayla Delgado in 2013.   For her efforts Tetteh was named the Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week as well as the OVC Offensive Player of the Week.  It was the second hat trick or better performance of Tetteh's career after scoring three goals in a win over Illinois Springfield in 2024.
 
BAUER HONORS: For the second time this season Eastern Illinois sophomore defender Colleen Bauer was named the OVC Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 7).  The Panthers swept the award in the first three weeks of the OVC season with Bauer winning it the opening week of conference play before Adison Welsh claimed the award the second week.  Bauer picked up her second award of the season for EIU's shutout performance against Morehead State.  For the year Bauer leads the team with 1,307 minutes played.  Last season as a freshman she earned All-OVC Newcomer team honors. 
 
KRATOCHVIL HONORS: Ella Kratochvil earned her second straight OVC Goalkeeper of the Week honor after posting a shutout on Oct. 5 against Morehead State.  It was the sixth straight shutout for the junior goalkeeper who had her shutout streak end at 606:10 minutes with a goal against Southern Indiana on Oct. 9.  Kratochvil bounced back with another clean sheet against Southeast Missouri giving her eight for the season and 14 for her career.   She now ranks tied for second on the EIU single season shutouts list and tied for fourth on the EIU career shutouts list.   This season she has a 0.71 goals against average which ranks first in the OVC with 60 saves.   Her eight shutouts this season currently rank her fifth in the NCAA this season.
 
WELSH NAMED OVC DEFENDER OF THE WEEK:  Freshman Adison Welsh was the OVC Defender of the Week after helping the Panthers post back-to-back shutouts last week in road wins at Western Illinois and UT Martin.  Welsh was the second straight EIU player to win the OVC weekly award after Colleen Bauer earned OVC Defender of the Week after the Panthers OVC opening win over SIUE.  Welsh was the lone EIU defender to play all 180 minutes on the pitch and came forward to provide an assist on the match winning goal on Sunday at UT Martin.  She is currently third on the team in minutes played at 965 with four straight complete 90 minute efforts in OVC action.
 
KRATOCHVIL RARE ASSIST: Goalkeeper Ella Kratochvil had a rare assist for a goalkeeper as her clearance out of the zone at Valparaiso took a big bounce with Abby Reinl finding the ball and finishing off the goal.   It was the first assist by an EIU goalkeeper in more than 25 years with the last by Jeanine Fredrick on Oct. 29, 1999, with an assist to Ida Hankansson's opening goal in a win over UT Martin. 
 
ONSTOTT WITH A QUICK GOAL:  Ella Onstott scored just 37 seconds into the match with Indiana State in what was one of the fastest goals scored in EIU program history.  Onstott scored on an assist from Alex Tetteh.  It was the second career goal for Onstott whose first career goal was in 2023 against Morehead State.
 
REINL MIDFIELDER WATCH LIST: Junior Abby Reinl was named to the Midfielder Preseason Watch List by the United Soccer Coaches Association. Reinl was the 2024 OVC Midfielder of the Year after leading the Panthers with eight goals scored which ranked second in the conference during the regular season. She had a stretch during conference play of scoring at least one goal in five consecutive matches. Reinl earned third team All-Region honors following the season. She was one of 48 players listed on the preseason midfielder watch list and the only player from the Ohio Valley Conference.
 
RETURNING ALL-OVC: Eastern Illinois returns two All-OVC players from last season as Abby Reinl and Alex Tetteh both earned All-OVC honors. Reinl was a first-team All-OVC selection last year earning OVC Midfielder of the Year honors.  She led the team with eight goals which ranked second in the conference for regular season scoring. Tetteh was a second-team All-OVC selection at forward. She finished the season with seven goals to rank second on the team including a hat trick early in the campaign becoming the ninth player in school history to record a hat trick. Defender Colleen Bauer also returns after earning OVC All-Newcomer team honors last season. Bauer started 19 matches as a freshman defender logging a team-high 1,614 minutes with one assist on the season
 
OVC PLAYER TO WATCH: In addition to the returning All-OVC performers from last season, junior goalkeeper Ella Kratochvil was named a Player of the Watch in the OVC for the upcoming season.  She started nine matches during the season after missing the early portion of the year with an injury sustained in exhibition play. She ended the season with a 0.89 goals against average with three shutouts in the net.
 
30 YEARS OF EIU WOMEN'S SOCCER: Eastern Illinois women's soccer is celebrating its 30th season as an intercollegiate sport during the 2025 season. The Panthers hosted a 30-year reunion weekend surrounding EIU's Oct. 5 match against Morehead State. EIU's first collegiate contest was against Toledo with the Panthers first win coming over Iowa State.  Since that time EIU has made four NCAA Tournament appearances while producing seven Conference Player of the Year selections and 41 first-team All-Conference performers.

SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois faces both Lindenwood and Little Rock in the second to last week of the OVC regular season.  This will be the fourth meeting between EIU and Lindenwood with the previous three all taking place as OVC rivals.  EIU holds a 1-0-2 all-time lead in the series with the schools playing to a 0-0 draw last season.   EIU and Little Rock will meet for the seventh time on Sunday with the Panthers owning a 3-1-2 all-time series lead.   The teams played to a 0-0 draw last year.

HEAD COACH: Dirk Bennett enters his third season as the head coach of the Eastern Illinois women's soccer team. A two-time EIU graduate, Bennett previously served as the Panthers assistant women's soccer coach since July of 2019. In February of 2023, he became the seventh head coach in program history. In his final year as an EIU assistant in 2022, Bennett helped coach the team to a 0.81 goals against average, which is the third best single season mark in school history. He picked up his first head coaching career win with EIU's 3-1 home win over Illinois Springfield on Aug. 20, 2023. He holds a 17-21-13 career record, including 11-7-6 in the OVC making the OVC Tournament field in each of his two seasons as head coach. He is assisted by Deanna Hecht.