Much has been said about the struggles of the Eastern women’s soccer team this season.

The team is well on their way to their worst record in program history. Entering this weekend’s contests the team is 0-11-1 and 0-3-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

The team’s previous worst mark came in the program’s first season, 1995, when they finished 8-11-1. That record was duplicated last season.

However, while this season appears lost with only six matches remaining, much is to be said about the amount of work put in by the team this season and the future appears bright.

The team will only graduate three seniors from this year’s team, and while the three departing- forward Pam Melinauskas, and defenders Ashley Slota and Lindsey Wilkening- will be major losses to the program, head coach Tim Nowak has set the team up well for the future by recruiting highly successful high school players.

Freshmen such as defender Hillary Blake, forward Jessica Blake, defender Sam Balek and forward Ashley Eck have gained an abundance of playing time this season, something not commonly seen on a Division I team. Eck has the team’s lone goal on the season.

In addition to those four, the team is set to return 20 of the 23 total players on their roster, and of those 20, only seven will be seniors.

Of course, things change and people come and go because of unforeseen circumstances, but as it’s set up now the team could be one of the more experienced in the conference for the next 2-3 years.

While this year’s Panthers team continues to set school records in futility, it still appears to be improving with each match, which is something to expect on a team with so many inexperienced players.

The team has set a school record in consecutive losses, winless streak, consecutive matches without a goal scored, and is on pace to shatter the school record for fewest goals in a season, 18, set in 2005.

The pressure to score and to win grows as the losses for the team piles up, but Nowak says the team just has to focus on playing their game.

“The way things are going, we need to stay relaxes and calm and not worry about when we’re going to score,” Nowak said. “It’ll come.”

Nowak is correct in saying that scoring will come for the Panthers, and while it might not be this year, it appears he has the team set up for a long run of success in the future.

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