Senior midfield captain Avery Richardson’s face lit up with excitement at the mention of conference play.
“I’m excited to see all the progress that we made hopefully go into action,” Richardson said. “We’ve been working hard this season; practicing, playing non-conference games, and I’m excited to prove ourselves.”
On Sunday, Eastern Illinois women’s soccer team (2-4-3) opens Ohio Valley Conference play on the road against the defending OVC champions, the Morehead State Screaming Eagles (3-3-3).
Eastern had a chance to get a week off from playing games, with their last non-conference game being on Sept. 12, a 0-0 draw at Indiana State. The team got to have a few days off before returning to training on Sunday.
Head coach Dirk Bennett said the mini break was nice for the players because it broke up the grind of the season, especially since Eastern played a very difficult non-conference slate to start the season.
Eastern’s division one opponents are a combined 37-25-10. The team only played one non-D1 team, a 3-0 win against Illinois-Springfield, thanks to a hat trick by sophomore forward Alex Tetteh.
“We put together a pretty competitive non-conference schedule,” Bennett said. “We went through a bit of a buzzsaw but on purpose. I think that we probably could’ve scheduled easier and probably gotten some better results, but we want to learn about ourselves and make sure we’re ready for whatever the OVC throws at us.”
A big theme this year continues to be developing the youth. Freshman defenders Collen Bauer and Casey Kittridge have both gotten over 620 minutes so far at the center back position. Starting true freshmen right away, especially at such an important position, can be risky. Many coaches wouldn’t take a chance on a true freshman, but Bennett put faith in them, and he’s pleased with their progress.
“I think that these last few weeks, all those defenders that are freshmen have really shown that they can compete at a high level in division one regardless of their age,” Bennett said. “The same goes for all the other players.”
Eastern’s big strength is their unity, which Richardson says is going to play a role in how the team does moving forward.
“I think we have a great culture this year and I think everyone’s invested in the program,” Richardson said. “I think that’s gonna show up.”
Bennett gave good news on the injury front. Sophomore goalkeeper Ella Kratochvil has resumed training with the team. She’s working her way back from a fractured wrist she suffered in preseason, leaving redshirt sophomore Ashlyn Hoover as Eastern’s only option.
Hoover has done well as the only goalkeeper. She just earned OVC goalkeeper of the week honors for the second time this season, after posting her third shutout this year.
Eastern is winless in their last five conference openers. Its last win on matchday one of OVC play came in 2018, when the Panthers beat Morehead State 1-0. They have won eight OVC openers, losing 12 of them and splitting the points with their opponent on five occasions.
The OVC preseason poll has Eastern finishing eighth and qualifying for the last spot in the postseason tournament. However, the teams picked to finish in the top four are a combined 7-18-10 heading into Sunday, which might be an indication that the conference is more open than once thought.
“I think we’re definitely going into this conference [schedule] confident in ourselves and I think something with the OVC is you never know what’s gonna happen.” Richardson said.
Eastern’s game Sunday in Morehead, Kentucky is set for a noon kickoff.
Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at ghnewman@eiu.edu.
