Eastern Illinois women’s soccer team won 2-1 against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks in their fourth Ohio Valley Conference game Thursday at Lakeside Field.
The game winning goal was scored by sophomore forward Abby Reinl in the 84th minute with a shot outside of the box with her left foot, which is her non-dominate, and her first time scoring a goal doing so. This marks her fourth goal of the season and her third goal in four games. This goal marks her outscoring herself last season.
“I’m ecstatic, it wasn’t just that moment. We worked really hard, and we have been all season and I’m glad that it showed off finally in the field,” Reinl said.
The first goal of the game was scored by sophomore forward Alex Tetteh in the eighth minute. This marks Tetteh’s fourth goal of the season, her first since her hat trick five weeks ago versus the University of Illinois Springfield. This goal marks Tetteh surpassing her goal count from last season.
The second goal of the match was scored by SEMO’s Justi Nelson the sophomore midfielder in the 24th minute of the game.
Both Tetteh and Reinl now share the title of goals leader for Eastern, both sitting at four goals apiece.
Both goals came from an assist by junior midfielder Kate Germano.
“I’m just excited because I feel like we really needed the win going into this weekend, so it was really exciting to be a part of both of those goals that led us to the win,” said Germano.
These assists send Germano’s assist tally to three and she now has the most assists on the team.
Although Eastern came out with the win in today’s game there were still some flaws in their game. Especially after the Southeast Missouri goal. Eastern seemed to be playing a more passive game and falling back into their shell whenever they were pressed by the Redhawks offense. Although the Panthers fixed this problem coming out of halftime.
Another problem that Eastern faced throughout the game was its inability to effectively switch the field.
“It was something that I was a little disappointed in,” EIU head coach Dirk Bennett said,
If Eastern improves in this section of their game it will greatly benefit their offense, throughout the game players like Alex Tetteh and Abby Reinl were getting open on the wings but Eastern just couldn’t make the switch.
Eastern will be playing their next game against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville. It will be their fifth Ohio Valley conference game. Their next home game will be against Western Illinois at Lakeside Field. This game will also serve as Eastern Illinois University’s Senior Night.
After today’s game, Eastern’s record now sits at 3-5-5 overall and 1-1-2 in conference play. Today’s victory also brought Eastern up to four points in the Ohio Valley Conference. This game also brings the Redhawks to a record of 0-8-1 overall and 0-2-1 in the conference.
Emerson Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or at etreynolds@eiu.edu.