Eastern Illinois (7-4-2, 4-0 OVC) vs. Southern Indiana (5-5-3, 2-0-2 OVC)
Thursday, October 9
3 pm at Charleston, Ill. (Lakeside Field)
Live Stats  |  Watch on ESPN+

Eastern Illinois at Southeast Missouri (1-11-1, 1-2-1 OVC)
Sunday, October 12
1 pm at Cape Girardeau, Mo. (Houck Field)
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ON-TAP:  Eastern Illinois looks to continue its hot start to the Ohio Valley Conference season as the Panthers have not lost a match since August 31 at Northern Illinois.  EIU improved to 7-4-2 overall, 4-0 in the OVC with a Sunday home win over Morehead State.   This week the Panthers will host Southern Indiana on Thursday before a Sunday road match at Southeast Missouri.  USI enters at 5-5-3, 2-0-2 in the OVC.  The Screaming Eagles are one of four OVC teams that have not suffered a loss this year in OVC play joining EIU (4-0), Tennessee Tech (2-0-2) and Little Rock (1-0-3).  SEMO picked up the first win of new head coach John Klein's Redhawks career with a 2-1 win over UT Martin on Sunday to move to 1-11-1 overall, 1-2-1 in the OVC.  The Redhawks face Western Illinois on Thursday before hosting EIU on Sunday.
 
NEXT UP: Following Sunday's match at Southeast Missouri, EIU continues with a double dip the following week as they play at Lindenwood on Thursday, Oct. 16 before hosting Little Rock on Sunday, Oct. 19 for Senior Day.
 
TEAM SHUTOUT STREAK: Eastern Illinois posted its sixth straight shutout of the season on Sunday against Morehead State as they Panthers have set the school record for consecutive shutouts.  As a team EIU currently has seven shutouts overall this season which is tied for the fifth most in a single season.  The school record for shutouts in a season is ten during the 2005 season.  EIU is currently tied for second for the most consecutive shutouts in OVC history with UT Martin (2006).  The OVC record is seven straight set by Morehead State in 2006.  The Panthers current streak of 550:45 minutes of not allowing a goal is the fourth longest scoreless stretch in OVC history and longest in the non-overtime era.  Morehead State's team from 2006 holds the record at 805:08 followed by UT Martin (646:39 in 2006) and Tennessee Tech in 2017 (645:37).
 
REINL WINNER: Abby Reinl scored her sixth goal of the season on Sunday accounting for the match winner against Morehead State.  Reinl is now tied for the team lead with six goals this year which ranks her second in the OVC.   It was Reinl's second match winner this season and the fifth of her career.  The goal moved Reinl into a tie for ninth on the Panthers career goals scored list with 17, tying her with Audra Frericks (2001-04).
 
KRATOCHVIL HONORS: Ella Kratochvil earned her second straight OVC Goalkeeper of the Week honor after posting a shutout on Sunday against Morehead State.  It was the sixth straight shutout for the junior goalkeeper and the seventh this season.   She is now tied for fourth on the EIU single season shutouts list (the school record is nine).  For her career Kratochvil has now posted 14 shutouts which is tied for fourth on the EIU career list with Kaylin Lorbert (2007-10).  For the year Kratochvil has a 0.75 goals against average which is currently first in the OVC.  Her seven clean sheets this season rank her eighth in the OVC.
 
BAUER HONORS: For the second time this season Eastern Illinois sophomore defender Colleen Bauer was named the OVC Defensive Player of the Week.  The Panthers have now swept the award in all 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 Sunday's shutout performance against Morehead State.  For the year Bauer leads the team with 1,127 minutes played.  Last season as a freshman she earned All-OVC Newcomer team honors. 
 
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 (6 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 ten players have an assist this season (eight 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 OPENERS: Eastern Illinois moved to 4-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference with a home win over Morehead State.  It matches 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.  This marks 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.
 
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.
 
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 two different OVC opponents this week as the Panthers look to continue their solid play.  On Thursday EIU will face Southern Indiana for the fourth time with the series deadlocked at 1-1-1.  The two schools played to a 1-1 draw last year in Evansville after EIU picked up a 2-1 win in 2023.  USI won the first conference meeting between the schools 2-0 in 2022.   This will be the 32nd meeting between long-time soccer rivals EIU and SEMO.  The Redhawks hold a slim 15-13-3 all-time lead in the series including a 2-1 win last year in the OVC Tournament.  EIU won the regular season meeting between the two schools 2-1 and won 2-0 in their last trip to Cape Girardeau in 2023.  SEMO has ended the Panthers last two seasons in the OVC Tournament.   

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 16-21-12 career record, including 10-7-5 in the OVC making the OVC Tournament field in each of his two seasons as head coach. He is assisted by Deanna Hecht.