The Eastern women’s soccer team will hit the road twice this weekend for a pair of matches, concluding its non-conference schedule.

The Panthers (2-5) will head to Indianapolis for a match at 6 p.m. Friday to take on Butler, followed by a 1 p.m. match on Sunday against Drake in Des Moines, Iowa.

Coming off a 1-0 loss to Northern Illinois, the Panthers want to wrap up the non-conference schedule with a pair of wins before heading into Ohio Valley Conference play.

“Obviously it will be important to come out of the weekend with two wins, as it will build confidence heading into our conference season,” Eastern head coach Summer Perala said. “We’ve had an extremely challenging non-conference portion to our schedule, and although the results aren’t what we shot for in our team goals session, we did improve from that first exhibition to this final non-conference road trip.”

Butler enters the contest with a record of 3-3-1, coming off a 3-0 loss to Michigan. The only draw on Butler’s record comes against an OVC team, Tennessee-Martin, finishing with a scoreless 0-0 tie.

Butler has a few common opponents with the Panthers, in Indiana State and Purdue, the only difference being Butler came away with wins, beating Indiana State 3-0 and beat Purdue on the road 1-0.

Freshman midfielder Sophia Maccagnone leads the Bulldogs with two goals, both of which were game-winners.

Drake has seen a strong start to the season, posting a record of 6-2, having won four straight matches, all of which came at home. Drake has played two OVC teams this season, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Southeast Missouri, losing to both for its only losses of the season.

Sophomore forward Ashlie Stokes leads Drake with four goals and two assists on the year.

“Both Butler and Drake are on a roll,” Perala said. “Good technically, no all-star players but as a team they are non-stop in their work rate. Both games will be fast paced and physical.”

The Panthers are 0-1 all-time against Butler and will meet Drake for the first time.

In the last match between the Panthers and the Bulldogs came last season, senior Kristin Germann had two goals in the first half, giving the team a 2-0 lead at halftime. However, Butler would battle back with three goals in the second half to win 3-2.

These two matches will be the first of a five game road trip for the Panthers, who will not play at home again until October 5 when they will take on Tennessee-Martin.

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