Southern Illinois jumped out of the gate early against Eastern Illinois on Thursday night beating the Panthers 4-0 in the season opener for both teams and first match-up between the in-state schools since 2019.
 
Dory Latenser put the Salukis on the board in the eight minute mark as she converted a turnover in the EIU end of the field into a scoring opportunity scoring to the lower left corner of the box.
 
SIU's second goal came in the 16th minute of action as a shot took an unfortunate Panther bounce off the crossbar and then post landing with a ricochet to the foot of Sophia Schlicken who knocked it home.
 
SIU's final two goals came from Aylie Hancock in the 22nd minute and Olivia Anderson in the 65th minute.
 
EIU finished the match with five shots in the match with freshman Haylee Rios placing the lone Panthers shot on goal.
 
Casey Kittridge, Alex Tetteh, Kya Trejo and Cora Erickson were each credited with a shot for EIU.