Eastern is set to begin their conference schedule this weekend when they take on Tennessee-Martin on Friday and Southeast Missouri on Sunday.

Both Ohio Valley Conference matchups this weekend for the Panthers will be on the road.

Eastern comes into these matchups fresh off a 4-1 home win over Chicago State.

Head coach Jason Cherry said he was satisfied with his team’s winning performance on senior day.

“It was great to pick up a win the way we did,” Cherry said. “It’s even better to have it on a day that we honor our seniors.”

Appropriately, seniors managed to find the box score in Eastern’s win.

Forwards Molly Hawkins and Hannah Miller each scored two goals each after allowing Chicago State the opening goal.

For Hawkins, her two goals brought her season total to seven, which leads the team. She also recorded two assists during the non-conference schedule.

Her seven goals have her tied for 17th in the nation. Her 16 points is good for 29th in the country.

“Molly is still doing great,” Cherry said. “She’s been leading the pack so far and we expect her to keep it up as conference gets going.”

Cherry also noted the play of his goalkeeper, Maddie Lyon, who allowed just one goal during the game and a clean second half.

After the win, Eastern’s improved to 2-6-1 and has scored a total of 11 goals and allowed 19 on the season.

With the non-conference schedule over, Cherry is preparing his team for what he calls the ‘the heart of the schedule.’

He looks at it like a new season against competition that he and his team are more familiar with.

Cherry knows what to expect from Tennessee-Martin.

“They’re a young, but very organized group,” Cherry said. “They’re well coached and will be ready too for us.”

Cherry also pointed out the play of one of Tennessee-Martin’s forwards, who he expects the team will prioritize getting the ball to.

Tennessee-Martin will come into the weekend at 2-6, having scored eight and allowing 23 goals on the year.

Southeast Missouri is currently 5-3-1 and has scored 14 goals and allowed 11 on the season.

Coming into these two games, Cherry feels that his team will be ready, but not nearly as healthy as they could be.

“We’ve had a few lingering injuries throughout the season,” Cherry said. “We’ve had a next-person-up mentality though and we’ll continue to do that.”

Cherry also emphasized the importance of his team picking up points throughout the season.

He feels that if his team can at least pick up draws, along with wins, they will be in good shape as the season winds down.

“For the remainder of the season, we’ll concentrate on the little things,” Cherry said.

Elias Albert can be reached at 581-2812 or at ewalbert@eiu.edu.