Following last season’s record of 5-24, new Eastern volleyball coach Alan Segal is coming into the fall season with no specific expectations.

Segal believes in not jumping to early conclusions or making early expectations. Segal said so far all he wants out of the volleyball squad is to compete at a high level and improve on how they performed last season.

“Since I’ve never seen the team compete before, all I want is a team that competes every day in matches and practice,” Segal said. “I want teammates to push each other to perform better as well as help the team perform better.”

Segal said for the squad to find success this season it, will all start with the team’s work ethic in practices.

“Bottom line is that you do all your hard work in practice and if you do that, then the matches should come much easier,” Segal said.

Men’s Soccer

Last season, the Eastern men’s soccer team finished with a record of 5-11-3, going 0-5 in conference matches.

A big problem for the men’s soccer team was their inability to defend and stop goals. While the Panther men scored 30 goals last season, they allowed 37 goals, which totaled to an average of nearly two goals per game (1.95).

Assistant coach Dino Raso said the squad has been focusing in practice and during the spring matches on turning these defensive statistics around.

“We have decided (to refocus) our defensive play and so far, we are showing positive signs,” Raso said. “We scored so many goals last season and yet, we didn’t have the wins to show for it. So, certainly, our main focus will be preventing goals.”

Women’s Soccer

First year women’s soccer head coach Summer Perala believes that for the women’s soccer team to be successful this season, they will need to score more goals.

Last season, the team only scored nine goals out of their 167 shot attempts. They also averaged only 8.8 shots per game, while allowing opponents to take an average of 21.8 shots per game. The women’s soccer team has competed in three matches so far during the spring season.

Perala said she has been impressed with the way the team is starting to bond, as well as their ability to listen to new ideas.

She said a main focus of the spring soccer season will be finishing off offensive opportunities.

“We need to find ways to finish our opportunities,” Perala said. “In the past couple of games, we have had a few attacking opportunities and if we could’ve just had one more good pass or a different technique on our shot, we would’ve been able to have a better chance to score.”

Neil Schneider can be reached at 581-7944 or jnschneider@eiu.edu.

Freshman setter Hannah Deterding sets the ball during the fall sports season. The volleyball team is led by new head coach Alan Segal, who was hired to replace former head coach Lori Bennett. (File Photo/The Daily Eastern News)

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