Eastern’s women’s soccer team is currently sitting 1.5 games behind Southeast Missouri for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference. With the Panthers having three OVC matches left to play, and the Redhawks having one less, it’s unlikely the Panthers will finish the regular season first in conference.

Assuming Southeast Missouri wins the regular season crown and hosts the season-ending OVC tournament, the Panthers have a good shot at finishing second in conference and getting a favorable seed in the tournament, or so it would seem.

Once things get to the tournament, the Panthers, and the rest of the OVC teams, cannot forget that any team can beat any team in any given game.

Just because you’re seeded ahead of a team and your record was better in the regular season doesn’t mean you can look past them to the next round.

Obviously, you need to play 100 percent against every team, but if anything, you need to give 110 percent against teams seeded lower. They’re hungry and would love nothing more than to knock off a higher seeded team and go another round deeper into the tournament, bringing them one win closer to a conference title.

On a similar note, the Panthers absolutely cannot afford to look at their next three contests assuming that they’re sitting pretty for the OVC tournament.

Not only do the Panthers have to keep themselves sharp heading into the tournament, but next weekend will be a good test of their ability to win on the road, something they have only done once this season.

After that, the Panthers will finish their regular season with a match-up at home against conference newcomer Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

Being conference newcomers, the Cougars will be hungry to prove themselves, and, depending on how they do next weekend, cement their own spot in the tournament, or play spoiler for the Panthers.

On top of that, the Panthers will need to keep themselves sharp for the tournament, tuning up and making sure they’re ready for this year’s run at the OVC title.

That all being said, the Panthers would not be where they are right now, nor could any soccer team have a successful season without solid goalkeeping, and that’s just what the Panthers have gotten from red-shirt sophomore keeper Jessica Taldone.

Taldone has allowed only two goals in five OVC matches, good for an average of 0.4 goals allowed per game, and her 39 saves versus just the two goals are good for a .951 save percentage.

Think about that for a second: less than half a goal allowed on average in conference matches? Stopping better than 19 out of every 20 shots on goal?

If I had to choose one MVP for the Panthers at this point in the season, it would have to be Taldone and her three OVC shutouts.

“You can’t win if you can’t score,” is a cliché that is overused in sports to describe mediocre defensive feats, but it can honestly be applied here. If the Panthers are going to win the OVC, they’ll need to count on continued performances in goal from Jessica Taldone.

Brad Kupiec can be reached at 581-7944 or bmkupiec@eiu.edu.