Fresh off the first victory of the season, the Eastern women’s soccer team will head back on the road to take on the Indiana State Sycamores on Friday.

Senior Kristin Germann was named Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week after her three-goal performance against Cleveland State, and that has begun to inspire her fellow teammates to aim for the same goal.

“The coach announced at practice that it’s not just an individual award for her, but it’s also like a team award,” freshman Karlee Deacon said. “If someone else can work towards that, it’s great. I think it boosts everyone’s confidence. We want to be the best team.”

Something Deacon doesn’t want to do again is go into overtime.

The Panthers have seen their last three matches all go into extra time, and Deacon said all the extra soccer has had both a positive and negative impact.

“I feel like since our first game until our last game, we’ve literally got better every time,” she said. “Overtime is definitely draining, physically and mentally because you just gave your all for the first 90 minutes, and then to know you have another two 10-minute (periods). It’s really hard.”

Indiana State enters the match at 1-2, and has already gotten a taste of the OVC, having opened the season against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

The Sycamores defeated the Cougars 2-0, but have since lost two straight, falling to Butler and Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne.

Eastern is one of three OVC teams on the Sycamore’s schedule, as Murray State comes to Terre Haute, Ind., on the following Sunday.

The Panthers lead the all-time series 6-3-2, but are 0-2-1 in the last three meetings.

Germann leads the Panthers in scoring with three goals. She is the first Eastern player since Beth Liesen to score three goals in one match.

Liesen, the all-time leading scorer in Eastern history, recorded her hat trick in 2003 against Tennessee-Martin.

Sophomore defender Marisa Windisch leads the Sycamores in goals, scoring two of the team’s three goals this season.

Freshman goalkeeper Erin Mitchell has started all three of the Sycamores’ matches this season, posting a 1.67 goals-against average, along with 13 saves.

Mitchell is the only goalkeeper listed on the Sycamores’ roster.

Red-shirt junior Jessica Taldone has started each of the Panthers’ matches, but was pulled for the first time in the last match in favor of freshman Emily Hinton.

Taldone has a 2.75 goals-against average, and has recorded 30 saves this season.

The Panthers’ only game this weekend is against Indiana State. The team will be back in action against Evansville at 3 p.m in Evansville, Ind.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-2812 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.