The Panthers will have their work cut out for them on Friday as they travel to Lexington, Ky. to take on the University of Kentucky at their annual tournament.

The game will start at 6:30 p.m. today on Kentucky’s home turf.

The Wildcats finished the season last year with a 13-8 record and were ranked as high as 13th in the nation at one point. However, this season Kentucky has a total of 13 red-shirt and true freshman on the roster compared to only four seniors.

They return their top scorer from last season sophomore forward Matt Lodge. Lodge scored six goals last season to go along with two assists. Also returning for the Wildcats is an all-conference defenseman, junior Brad Walker.

Eastern head coach Adam Howarth thinks that the Panthers should be able to take advantage of the youth in goal after Kentucky lost their goalkeeper from last season.

“A goalkeeper is a goalkeeper and their job is to keep the ball out of the net but were going to test him and that’s our biggest thing that we gotta do,” Howarth said.

The Panthers beat Kentucky the only other time these teams played each other; however, Howarth said that he is confident and that the team is going to give it everything they got.

“It’s always difficult on the road but we are quiet and confident and that’s how it should be,” Howarth said.

Eastern has been getting better and better and the team has learned from last season. They look forward to having a great season by starting off the season fresh against a tough opponent.

“They had a good year last year, but it’s a brand new year I think they are still trying to find themselves a bit through the preseason as we are too,” Howarth said. “They are a strong physical team who will be direct in their play but hopefully we can handle everything they throw at us.”

The key for the Panthers is to focus on themselves and get what should be a very large crowd out of the game early.

They hope to do this by getting out to an early lead and matching if not beating the intensity of the Wildcats right out of the gate.

“There will probably be a few thousand people at the game and our goal is to get the crowd out of the game early,” Howarth said.

The Panthers are going to focus on what they do well by playing physical and just being crisp with their passing and possession of the ball.

“We’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves, make sure that we play our game, make sure that we withstand the physical nature of the game,” Howarth said.

The game is set to start at 6:30 p.m. and will be the first of two games the Panthers play in the UK Invitational. They play North Carolina-Asheville on Sunday at 11 a.m.

Rob Mortell can be reached at 581-7944 or rdmortell@eiu.edu

Sophomore Goalkeeper Shailer Thomas dives after a ball Saturday during a match against Green Bay at Lakeside Field.(Danny Damiani

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