Eastern Illinois (0-2) vs. IU Indianapolis (0-1)
Thursday, August 21
3 pm at Charleston, Ill. (Lakeside Field)
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Eastern Illinois vs. Ball State (0-1)
Sunday, August 24
1 pm at Charleston, Ill. (Lakeside Field)
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ON-TAP:  Eastern Illinois will play its regular season home opener on Thursday after the Panthers opened the regular season on the road.   EIU dropped matches at Southern Illinois and Akron to start the year at 0-2.   EIU hosts IU Indy who lost to OVC member SIUE in its season opener.  The Panthers close out welcome weekend on campus on Sunday hosting Ball State at 1 p.m.   Ball State lost its season opener at Purdue and faces Indiana prior to the trip to Charleston.
 
NEXT UP: Following two matches at home this weekend, the Panthers go back on the road for a pair of non-conference matches at Valparaiso and Northern Illinois.   EIU's next home match will be Thursday, Sept. 4 against Indiana State.
 
HOME OPENER: Eastern Illinois is 2-1-2 in the Panthers last five home openers at Lakeside Field.  Last season EIU played Akron to a 1-1 draw in its home opener after beating Illinois Springfield in the home opener in 2023.
 
SHOT LEADER: Eastern Illinois was shut out in its two opening matches on the road.  Kate Germano and Alex Tetteh currently lead the team with two shots each as the Panthers offense has been limited to 14 total shots and five shots on goal. 
 
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 will celebrate its 30th season as an intercollegiate sport during the 2025 season. The Panthers will host 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.
 
EXHIBITION GOALS: Eastern Illinois played two exhibition matches during the preseason facing both UIC and Saint Xavier at Lakeside Field. Between the two matches EIU registered seven goals with tallies coming from Alex Tetteh (2), Ella Onstott, Abby Reinl, Haylee Rios, Camylle Graves and Madi Watt.
 
RETURNING STARTERS:  Eastern Illinois returns seven field players from last season's roster that started at least half of the Panthers matches last season with six of those seven starting 17 or more contests. Four returning players – Colleen Bauer, Kate Germano, Casey Kittridge and Ella Onstott - started all 19 matches in 2025 for EIU.
 
POINTS PRODUCERS FROM 2024: EIU returns its top goal scorers from last season in juniors Abby Reinl and Alex Tetteh. The Panthers also return Kate Germano and Kya Trejo who found the back of the net during the 2024 season. Germano was the Panthers leader last season with four assists while Trejo had two assists as the second leading returner in that category.

NEW FACES: While Eastern Illinois does return a veteran roster from last season, the Panthers did bolster their line with the addition of eleven new faces. Joining the Panthers this fall are Sadie Black, Cora Erickson, Camylle Graves, Hannah Hickman, Sadie Mueller, Haylee Rios, Rylee Schloss, Madi Watt, Addison Welsh and Reese Woelfel. The Panthers had one additional mid-year transfer in Mya French who joined the team last January.

SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois hosts a pair of schools from the Hoosier State this weekend with IU Indianapolis and Ball State both making trips to Charleston.   EIU and IU Indy will be meeting for the 12th time in program history with the Panthers holding a 5-3-3 all-time series lead.  The Jaguars picked up a 2-0 victory last season in Indianapolis.   EIU and Ball State will be meeting on the pitch for the fifth time.  Ball State holds a 3-1 all-time lead in the series including a 6-0 victory the last time the school's met in 2019.

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 9-19-10 career record, including 6-7-5 in the OVC making the OVC Tournament field in each of his two seasons as head coach. He is assisted by Deanna Hecht.