The Eastern’s women’s soccer team has spent much of its season on the road, but the Panthers will make their longest road trip of the season this weekend as they travel to Jacksonville, Ala., to play Jacksonville State at 1 p.m. Sunday to continue the Ohio Valley Conference play.

Eastern could also see an influx of fans when they play the Gamecocks, as Jacksonville State is located within close proximity to Talladega Superspeedway – a track in NASCAR’s circuit. Talladega hosts a race on Sunday and could make the Panthers’ match a unique atmosphere.

“We’re expecting a lot of race fans around, and it’ll probably be pretty hectic with the track so close,” Eastern head coach Tim Nowak said. “The OVC scheduled this weekend before NASCAR released its schedule, but we’ve known about it for eight months or so. It’s nothing that we haven’t prepared for. We’ll be ready to go.”

The Panthers are coming off of a weekend in which they dropped a pair of OVC matches, 1-0 at Tennessee Martin on Friday and 3-0 to Murray State in the team’s OVC home opener on Sunday.

The team has today off and will leave on its 9 hour, 30 minute trip to Jacksonville on Saturday morning for Sunday’s match.

The Gamecocks (3-5-3, 0-1-1 OVC) enter the weekend winless in the conference. They lost 1-0 to Austin Peay in their OVC opener Friday and battled Tennessee Tech to a 2-2 tie on Sunday. Jacksonville State will play its OVC home opener today against Southeast Missouri prior to Sunday’s match against the Panthers.

In the Gamecocks, Eastern will be taking on a team that has both scored and allowed a high number of goals this season. Jacksonville State is averaging 2.27 goals per match but is also allowing two goals per match.

The Gamecocks’ starting goalkeeper, senior Kate Kelly, has a goals-against-average of 2.14, which should bode well for an Eastern squad that has only scored one goal this season.

The Panthers are 4-1-1 all-time against the Gamecocks, and haven’t lost to them since 2004 when they dropped a 1-0 contest in Jacksonville. However, Nowak said he knows Sunday’s match will be as competitive as always.

“I would expect a hard fought game just like every time,” Nowak said. “I think both of us are looking for wins and to play well, so I would expect a good game. (Gamecocks’ head coach Julie) Davis does a good job preparing her team.”

Freshman midfielder Lindsay Boehmler and freshman forward Chelsea Pelletier both lead the team in goals scored while freshman forward Casey Brettman and sophomore forward Alyshia Madison both have three assists on the season.

Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at