Eastern’s women’s soccer team tied 0-0 against the Lindenwood Lions in their second Ohio Valley Conference game Thursday afternoon at Lakeside Field. 

Eastern had a promising game looking very calm under pressure. The main player who held the game scoreless was sophomore goalie Ella Kratochvil, who returned on the field after several games due to an injury she suffered during the preseason. 

Kratochvil had six saves throughout the game and made multiple big plays that solidified the tie.  

This return was something that Kratochvill was nervous about.  

“Making sure that my teammates and I were still connected,” Kratochvil said. “I mean obviously getting back on the field is getting tough after being out six to seven games.”

However, the nerves didn’t get to her this game. Kratochvil did not record a single error throughout the game. 

Another bright spot in Eastern’s game today was the offense. In a game that ended scoreless, on both sides, the offense had a field day.

Lindenwood ended with sixteen shots and Eastern with eight. 

Sophomore forwards, Alex Tetteh and Abby Reinl, had a major game today. Coming off the bench, Tetteh was responsible for two shots and one on goal, and Reinl took one of her own.

However, both made multiple very dangerous chances that EIU could have profited from.  

At the start of the game, Reinl had two electrifying runs in the box and earned the team two penalty kicks and two free kicks, all from dangerous spots on the field. 

This performance from the two may signify the start of a new era for the Panther’s offense. Head coach Dirk Bennett said they can really give the team an advantage.  

Reinl is coming off a phenomenal freshman season in which she had three goals and three assists last year. This season, Tetteh has also been doing great with her hat trick earlier in the season.  

Although there were many upsides from today’s game, the Panthers were not flawless today when it came to the defensive front. Although Kratochvil had a stellar game, Eastern’s defense had problems in clearing the ball this game.

This is a problem they have been working on for a while and was exposed before this game in a 5-1 loss against Morehead State this past Sunday.

In today’s game, however, they showed improvement compared to last week. 

The game offense wise was mostly dominated by the Lions as 71% of the time Lindenwood had the ball was on Eastern’s half of the field.

This tie brings Eastern to a 2-5-4 overall record and a 0-1-1 in the OVC. Eastern’s next game is against Southern Indiana on Sept. 29 in Evansville, Indiana. 

Emerson Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or at etreynolds@eiu.edu.