The Eastern women’s soccer team continues their four-match road trip this weekend when they travel to Bowling Green, Ky., on Friday to play Western Kentucky at 6 p.m. before heading to Macomb for a Sunday match against Western Illinois at 2 p.m.

The Panthers are 0-6-1 after dropping the first match of their road trip 2-0 to Ball State last Friday. The team will have its hands full as Friday’s match is against a Western Kentucky team that is undefeated so far this season.

The Lady Toppers are 5-0-1 on the season and are currently ranked 15th in the Great Lakes Region.

They have played three Ohio Valley Conference teams this season, defeating Murray State 4-0 on Sept. 12, Morehead State 5-1 on Aug. 29 and tying with Eastern Kentucky 1-1 on Aug. 24.

Junior midfielder Kellie Walker and sophomore midfielder Megan Meinke, who have three goals apiece, lead Western Kentucky. The Lady Toppers have scored 15 total goals through their first six matches and have allowed only three.

Comparatively, the Panthers have only scored one goal through seven matches while allowing 14.

“Western Kentucky is undefeated, so they’re rolling a little bit,” Eastern head coach Tim Nowak said. “We need to be ready to work as hard as we can for 90 minutes.”

Sunday’s game against Western Illinois will be a homecoming for Nowak.

The Panthers’ coach is a 1997 Western alum and was the Leathernecks’ goalkeeper during his time in Macomb.

Despite the fact Nowak will be going back to the place where he once played, he said he still approaches it like he would any other game.

“It’s just a regular game to me,” Nowak said. “They’re our in-state rivals, and that’s how I look at it. Every game is a big game for us. It doesn’t matter who it is.”

The Westerwinds will travel to Normal to take on Illinois State on Friday before their game against the Panthers. They enter the weekend 2-2-1, including a 3-0 victory against Northern Iowa on Tuesday. Eastern played Northern Iowa to a 0-0 tie on Aug. 31.

Western freshman forward Alyssa Johnston leads the Westerwinds with three goals this season.

Sunday’s match is the Panthers’ next-to-last non-conference match this season, as they open OVC play on Sept. 26 at Tennessee Martin.

Eastern wraps up its non-conference schedule with a match on Oct. 29 against Illinois State in Normal.

Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.

Senior forward Pam Melinauskas, left, and senior defender Ashley Slota, center, try to head the ball away from an Eastern Michigan player on Sept. 7 at Lakeside Field. (Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News)

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