After a cancellation in the schedule against Illinois, the Eastern women’s rugby team will face Purdue Thursday. The game will be played at 4 p.m. in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Panthers (7-0) were set to have their final home game this Saturday against Illinois, but because of scheduling problems they were forced to cancel the game.

After calling many schools in the area, Eastern head coach Frank Graziano was finally able to work out a game between the Panthers and the Boilermakers.

The game revives the Panthers’ chances of finishing the season with a perfect 10-0 record.

Graziano said he is pleased he will get to face the Boilermakers this year, because they are a team he is familiar with. He said his teams have played against Purdue many times in his 10 years at Eastern.

Playing a school so close is a big advantage because it allows the players to sleep in their own beds the night before the game because they do not have to leave Charleston the night prior to the game.

Last year, when the two teams played at Lakeside Rugby field, the Panthers came out on top by a score of 73-0.

“The score last year was a little misleading; they have always played us pretty tough,” Graziano said. “They have some strengths that tend to be some of our weaknesses. We are going to try to address that in practice, they have a couple of players that we struggle with.”

He said they have two or three players that if they get loose could cause Eastern some problems.

The Panthers will be forced to play the game during the week because the Boilermakers will be having their homecoming game this weekend against Ohio State. This will be the first time this season the Panthers will be playing on a Thursday, so they will have one less day of practice.

Graziano said he would use these next couple of days to get back to doing the basic things that have to be done in order to win the game.

Panther players were not happy with the cancellation of the Illinois game because they not only lost out on their final home game, but they also lost out on playing a talented team that gave the Panthers two good games last year. While the Panthers defeated the Illini 32-21 and 36-19 last season, they still felt they allowed too many points and wanted to redeem themselves from last year.

After the Panthers return from Purdue, they will have 13 days of rest before they travel to Clemson, S.C., where they will play Clemson on Nov. 5 and North Carolina on Nov. 8.

Bob Shaughnessy can be reached at 581-7944 or at rrshaughnessy@eiu.edu.

Chase Cain, junior lock, runs toward the goal line as a Kansas University player attempts to stop her on Saturday, Oct. 18 at Lakeside field. The Panthers won 52-0 and remain undefeated with a record of 7-0. (Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News)

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