After Sunday’s 2-1 playoff-clinching victory against Southeast Missouri, the Panthers found out their first round playoff opponent will be Morehead State, a team Eastern won a 1-0 match against on Oct. 13.

While it wasn’t until Sunday that the team knew that would be in the Ohio Valley Conference, head coach Tim Nowak said his team has been preparing for the playoffs for several weeks.

“Honestly, we’ve been in tournament preparation mode for about 3-4 weeks now,” said Nowak after Sunday’s win.

The Panthers enter Wednesday’s match at Illinois State on a four-match unbeaten streak and have only allowed one goal during that period.

While the Panthers still have a lot at hand in preparing for the OVC tournament, Nowak said his team would start thinking about that after celebrating their victory.

“We’re going to prepare for Wednesday’s game and then start looking at what we have to do next week,” Nowak said. “But for now we’re going to enjoy this win.”

Facing a top scorer

The one goal the Panthers have allowed in their last four matches was to someone who is no stranger to finding the back of the net.

Redhawks’ senior forward Casey Kraft scored in the second half when she took a pass and fired a turnaround shot past Panthers’ junior goalkeeper Jenny Williams in the top right of the net.

“It was a great finish by a great player for SEMO,” Nowak said about the goal. “Casey Kraft is one of the greatest players in the history of this conference.”

As of Oct. 13, Kraft ranks fourth among active OVC players in career points with 38, career goals with 17, and career shots with 118. Williams conceded that the one goal she allowed in the victory was a great play by Kraft.

“We gave up one goal but it was a heck of a shot,” Williams said.

Last in stats, not standings

The Panthers enter the OVC Tournament as the five-seed despite being at or near the bottom of the conference in several statistical categories. The team finished the conference season last in the OVC in points, goals and goals per game.

They also finished the season seventh of nine in goals allowed, goals against average, assists and assists per game. Senior forward Pam Melinauskas led the team with three goals on the season and junior midfielder Alexis Miller led the team with two assists. Junior forward Rachel Hamilton had a team-high 31 shots on the season while Melinauskas finished with 30.

Injuries

Senior defender Ashley Slota and junior midfielder Laura Ridolfi both left Sunday’s match with injuries.

Neither of them returned to the game and Nowak said they would be looked at and given time to heal but gave no indication to their statuses.

“We’ve got some injuries that we need to let heal,” Nowak said.

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

Sophomore midfielder Kaitlin Sullivan (right) and senior midfielder Pam Melinauskus (center) celebrate after a goal in the first half against Southeast Missouri on Sunday at Lakeside Field. (Cody Rich

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