Eastern wants to rebound from the tough losses the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams had last weekend. They’ll get their shot sooner than normal.

The Panthers will travel to face Atlantic 10 opponent Saint Louis today.

The loss to Mid-Continent Conference opponent Western Illinois seems to still linger with the team.

“We didn’t swim very good last weekend,” said head coach Ray Padovan. “We hope to do better this week.”

Last weekend’s loss has sparked emotion from some of the women swimmers.

“We’re more motivated,” said freshman Lauren Zillmer. “Western is our rival, so we want to go out and win and get better. That way, next time we meet them we’ll be better and beat them.”

The Panthers insist, though, they’re not overlooking SLU.

“They’re a real good team,” said sophomore Jason Maurer. “Last few times we went up against them, they beat us. We hope to go in there and put up a good fight.”

Padovan has also noticed SLU has also improved.

“They’ve gotten a lot better,” he said. “The women’s team has always been pretty good, but the men have improved a lot. We could be in for a rough meet. It’ll be good competition.”

A short week of practice has some of the team worried.

“I’m kind of nervous because we haven’t had as much practice this week as normal,” Zillmer said. “But I still think we’ll do well.”

But other Panther swimmers are not as worried about the pressure of a short week of practice.

“We just have to go in there with a positive attitude,” Maurer said. “Just because we had three days of practice doesn’t mean we’ll do any worse.”

Padovan says the less practice time shouldn’t be a factor.

“It doesn’t make that big of a difference,” he said. “It gives them a little more rest time.”

After today’s meet, the team will have two weeks off. But Padovan says he expects the team to keep training.

“They’re expected to train while they’re at home,” he said. “They will practice at home with a club or their high school team.”

The home pool advantage SLU will have may be a key factor in the meet.

“They usually beat us when they are at their own pool, and we usually beat them when we’re at home,” Zillmer said. “I think this could be a real close meet.”