Eastern Illinois (6-7-3) vs. Southern Indiana (4-9-6)
Sunday,  November 8
1 pm at Charleston, Ill. (Lakeside Field)
Live Stats  |  Watch ESPN+


ON-TAP:  Eastern Illinois and Southern Indiana meet on Sunday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.  EIU enters as the No. 3 seed.  USI is the No. 6 seed and beat Western Illinois in the opening round on Thursday.  The winner of the match will play No. 2 Southeast Missouri on November 12 in the OVC Tournament semifinals hosted by UT Martin.
 
OVC HISTORY: Eastern Illinois will be making its fourth straight OVC Tournament appearance when the Panthers host Southern Indiana on Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Field.  This marks the second straight year EIU has finished in the OVC Top 4 and hosted a quarterfinal round match.  EIU has lost three straight OVC Tournament matches with the last OVC Tournament win coming in 2019 with a 2-0 win over Tennessee Tech.  EIU has won four OVC Tournament titles coming in four straight years 2001-04.

LEPPLA FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Freshman Amara Leppla became the second straight Eastern Illinois player to be named the OVC Freshman of the Year as she won the award this season.  Leppla led the Panthers in both scoring and goals scored during the year.  She becomes the fifth all-time EIU player to win the OVC Freshman of the Year.  Last season as a high school senior she was the Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year scoring 39 goals during the season.  Leppla's streak came to an end against Southeast Missouri.

ALL-OVC HONORS: Eastern Illinois had four players earn All-Ohio Valley Conference honors for the 2026 season.  Amara Leppla was named the OVC Freshman of the Year in addition to a first team All-OVC forward and to the All-OVC Newcomer team.  Amelia Mundo was named a first team midfielder.  Colleen Bauer (defender) and Alex Tetteh (forward) were named to the OVC second team.
 
KRATOCHVIL GETS THE RECORD: Ella Kratochvil moved to the top of EIU leader board as the senior goalkeeper posted her 20th career shutout in the 3-0 win over Lindenwood.   Kratochvil broke the record of 19.5 set by Tiffany Groene from 2002-05.  Based on that shutout effort, Kratochvil earned her fourth OVC Goalkeeper of the Week honor on October 13.  Kratochvil added her eighth clean sheet of the season and 22nd of her career in Sunday's 1-0 win at Southern Indiana earning another OVC Goalkeeper of the Week honor.  The eight shutouts are tied for second most in a single season.  She added one save in the match last week increasing her career total to 273 saves which ranks fourth on the EIU career list.   She made her 53rd  start in goal against UT Martin in the regular season finale which moved her into fourth all-time for the Panthers.
 
TETTEH CRACKS TOP TEN: Alex Tetteh has already moved into the EIU career top ten for both goals scored and match winning goals this season.  Against Lindenwood, her assist on the final goal of the match by Amara Leppla moved the senior into 10th place on the EIU points scored list with 47 career points.  She added one more career point in the road win at Morehead State assisting on the match winner by Cora Erickson giving her 49 career points.  Tetteh is eighth at EIU with 21 career goals and eighth with six match winning goals.  She has been an All-OVC selection in each of her previous season including first team honors in each of the last two years.
 
REINL MOVES UP ONE SPOT: Abby Reinl added another goal and assist to her EIU career totals as the senior picked up her third goal and third assist of the season.   Her first goal against Lindenwood was the match winner giving the 2024 OVC Midfielder of the Year six match winning goals, tied for eighth most in school history.   Her 20 EIU career goals rank her ninth all time at EIU while she ranks 11th on the Panthers career charts with 46 points. 
 
EASTERN ILLINOIS HALL OF FAME TEAM: Eastern Illinois athletics inducted teams into its 2026 Athletic Hall of Fame marking the second time in the long history that a team's ceremony had taken place.   Part of the 2026 Hall of Fame Class is the EIU Women's Soccer 2001 Team.  The 2001 team posted a 14-6 record going on to win the OVC Tournament Championship.  The Panthers faced Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament marking the first of four straight NCAA Tournament appearances for the program. 

SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois and Southern Indiana will meet for the seventh time on Sunday in the OVC Tournament quarterfinal.  The all-time series is tied 2-2-2 with EIU winning this year's regular season meeting in Evansville.  USI did beat EIU in last year's OVC Tournament quarterfinal round.

HEAD COACH: Dirk Bennett enters his fourth 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 23-32-16 career record, including 15-13-6 in the OVC making the OVC Tournament field in each of his three seasons as head coach. He is assisted by associate head coach Deanna Hecht.