Eastern Illinois (4-8-4) vs. Liberty (8-4-6)
Sunday, November 9
3 pm at St. Charles, Mo. (Hunter Stadium)
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ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois faces Liberty on Sunday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Valley Conference men's soccer tournament.   EIU had its five match unbeaten streak snapped in the final regular season match against SIUE to end the regular season at 4-8-4.  EIU will play as the No. 6 seed in the tournament field.  Liberty also ended its regular season with a loss falling 1-0 on the road at Incarnate Word.   The Flames are the No. 3 seed in the tournament field.

NEXT UP: The winner of the quarterfinal match between Eastern Illinois and Liberty will move on to face No. 2 seed Houston Christian on Wednesday night at 7 pm in the OVC semifinals.   All tournament matches are being played at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo.
 
OVC TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Eastern Illinois will be making its second appearance in the OVC Tournament in the three years that the conference has sponsored men's soccer as a championship sport.  EIU made the tournament field the inaugural year before missing the field last year.   EIU is 0-1-1 in tournament action playing to a draw with Liberty in the opening year and then winning that match on penalty kicks.  EIU then lost in the semifinals to Incarnate Word. 
 
GOAL STREAK: Eastern Illinois scored in its sixth straight match on Sunday falling 2-1 to SIUE in the regular season finale.  It is the longest stretch of consecutive matches with at least one goal for the Panthers since the start of the 2013 season when EIU scored at least one goal in the opening 12 matches of the year. 
 
GRAGNANO WINS AWARD: Junior Gui Gragnano was named the Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Week after he scored a pair of goals in the win over Western Illinois.   Gragnano picked up his second and third goals of the season in the final 13 minutes of action accounting for the match winner and an insurance goal.  He is the second EIU player to win OVC Offensive Player of the Week honors this season.  Gragnano then scored in last week's match at Lindenwood to secure a 1-1 draw and lock up a spot in the OVC Tournament field.  Gragnano ended the regular season as the team leader in goals with four.  He was the first player since Sam Eccles in October 2022 to score two goals in a match.
 
UNBEATEN STREAK: Eastern Illinois ran its current unbeaten streak to five straight matches last week against Lindenwood with a 1-1 draw before dropping the final regular season match, 2-1, to SIUE.  EIU went 3-0-2 over those five matches with wins over Incarnate Word, Southern Indiana and Western Illinois with draws against Liberty and Lindenwood.  The last time EIU posted an unbeaten streak of five or more matches was 2017.  EIU opened that season unbeaten in its first six matches going 2-0-4.  The school record at the NCAA Division I level is 15 straight unbeaten matches to close out the 1981 season, the Panthers had that streak ended in the NCAA Championship semifinals.
 
ORTIZ IN THE NET: Lucas Ortiz made his first start of the season in goal in the Panthers match at SIUE.  Ortiz made three saves in the match with the lone goal of the contest coming on a penalty kick in the 8th minute.  It was the second career match for the redshirt sophomore who took the redshirt season in 2023 and played just one half of a match last season against Bowling Green making seven saves.  He has since taken over as the starting goalkeeper posting a 3-1-2 record in his last six matches with a pair of shutout wins over Incarnate Word and Southern Indiana.  In eight matches started this season he has posted a 1.25 goals against average making 23 saves.
 
WELAGE WITH ANOTHER GOAL FOR EIU: Senior forward Casey Welage scored his third goal of the season in the 2-2 draw with Liberty.  It was his second OVC goal this season after scoring in the 1-1 draw at Western Illinois to open Ohio Valley Conference action.  Welage had been named the OVC Offensive Player of the Week the previous week as EIU played at Northern Illinois and Central Arkansas.  It was the fifth career goal for Welage who was the first EIU player to win OVC Offensive Player of the Week honors as the league is now in its third year of sponsoring men's soccer.   Chad Smith is the only other EIU player to win a weekly OVC award earning Goalkeeper of the Week late in the 2023 season.
 
DEFENSIVE MINUTES:  Yuki Nakamura  came off the pitch for just the second time this season the week EIU hosted Liberty and Southern Indiana as he leads all players with 1420 minutes played this season  He is followed by Shuntaro Endo who is second on the team with 1,206 minutes played.  Cland Iwasaki is third on the team with 1,159 minutes played for the Panthers this season of a possible 1440 minutes played.
 
POINTS LEADERS: Eastern Illinois scored multiple goals for the fourth straight match with its 3-1 win over Western Illinois.  EIU had scored two goals in each of its two matches playing to a 2-2 draw with Liberty and 2-0 win over Southern Indiana.  The previous week EIU ended its Texas swing with a 2-0 win at Incarnate Word.  Gui Gragnano had two goals against Western Illinois and then added his team leading fourth goal at Lindenwood.  Fabricio Roberti scored his third goal of the season in the final regular season match with SIUE to move into a tie with Casey Welage for second on the team with three goals each.   Gragnano (4 G) and Roberti (3 G, 2 A) are each tied with eight points on the season.  Ben Griffis, Adam Boykin and Shion Hayashi all have two goals this season to round out the Panthers goal scorers.
 
HOME OPENER: Eastern Illinois played its home opener Thursday, October 2nd hosting Lindenwood.  The Panthers were the last NCAA Division I team to play a regular season match at home this season.    Following the one-match return to Charleston, EIU played at SIUE on Sunday and made the Texas swing of the OVC schedule last week.  The Panthers will end the regular season at home with four of their final five regular season matches at Lakeside Field.
  
OVC OPENERS: Eastern Illinois is now 1-1-1 all-time in OVC openers after the conference opening 1-1 draw at Western Illinois.  EIU lost at Southern Indiana last year to open OVC play after winning its inaugural OVC match in 2023 beating Lindenwood.  
FIRST WIN FOR VAZ: Eastern Illinois picked up the first win of the Ruy Vaz era at Eastern Illinois on Tuesday, Sept. 16 with a 3-2 road win at Northern Illinois.   The Panthers led 2-0 at the break and added a vital insurance goal midway through the second half.  NIU scored its second goal of the match with just under 30 seconds remaining in the match.  
 
GOALS COME AT NIU: Eastern Illinois had scored just one goal through its opening four matches of the season heading into the road contest at Northern Illinois.   The Panthers doubled that season total by halftime and added a third goal midway through the second half.  Casey Welage, Shion Hayashi and Gui Gragnano all scored for the Panthers in the match.    EIU scored three goals in the season opening win last year against University of Chicago.  The last time EIU scored three or more goals against a Division I opponent was in 2019 against Belmont (W, 3-2 OT)

BOYKIN SCORES FIRST: Adam Boykin was the first Eastern Illinois player to find the back of the net as he scored in the match at Milwaukee.  It was the second career goal for Boykin who scored last season with the game winner against Western Illinois.

SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois and Liberty will be meeting for the fifth time when the schools meet on Sunday in the OVC Tournament quarterfinals.  Liberty holds a 2-0-2 all-time lead in the series with the schools playing to a 2-2 draw this year in Charleston.  The other tie on the schedule was in the 2023 OVC Tournament when the schools played to a 0-0 draw through regulation and two overtimes.  EIU went on to beat Liberty 3-1 in penalty kicks.

HEAD COACH:  Ruy Vaz was hired in February 2025 and became the 12th head coach in Eastern Illinois men's soccer history.  Vaz was a successful coach at the junior college level winning 110 matches with six NJCAA National Tournament appearances during seven seasons leading the Cowley College program in Kansas from 2018-24.  He coached 10-plus JUCO All-Americans with numerous players going on to play at the four-year collegiate level.  Of his six NJCAA National Tournament finishes he had two final four appearances and one championship game appearance.  His collegiate coaching record is 110-21-6 at Cowley College.  Vaz is a 2015 graduate of Oklahoma City University where he played soccer.  He picked up his first Eastern Illinois win on Sept. 16 with a 3-2 win at Northern Illinois.