Sophomore forwards Abby Reinl and Alex Tetteh both scored twice in Eastern’s 4-0 victory over Western Illinois Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Field.

Eastern (4-6-5, 2-2-2) controlled most of the game, taking the game with an early goal. Overall, the Panthers nearly doubled Western Illinois (1-11-1, 1-4-1) in shots, tallying 15 with a season high 10 of the shots being on target.

“I thought it was a complete performance today,” Eastern head coach Dirk Bennett said. “We haven’t scored that many goals yet, and we haven’t had a clean sheet in a while, so to get both of those to happen, just really ecstatic.”

Eastern honored its seniors before the game, and two seniors set up Reinl’s first goal. Defender Morgan Rinker threaded a pass through to midfielder Carys Grieve who cut back a pass across the face of the goal to Reinl who was open on the back post to tap it in.

Reinl scored in the second half to complete her brace, which is two goals scored in the same game by one player.

She took the ball off the foot of a Leatherneck defender and knocked it past freshman goalkeeper Ariel Bernard for her seventh goal of the season and sixth in six games.

Reinl currently sits second in the Ohio Valley Conference in goals, two behind the leader.

“Abby [Reinl] has obviously been on a hot streak for a reason,” Bennett said. “Just more of the same for her so really happy to see her continue.”

Tetteh’s first goal came just over five minutes into the start of the second half, a free kick from about 30 yards out. She added a goal late thanks to a scramble in front of the net on a loose ball that Western Illinois was unable to clear.

Tetteh’s two goals increase her season total to six, doubling her total from last year and putting her at third on the OVC goal leaderboard.

“She’s been trying to find a way back on that scoresheet more consistently,” Bennett said.

Sophomore goalkeeper Ella Kratochvil earned her second clean sheet of the season, and the first for her and the team since the Panthers drew 0-0 with Lindenwood.

Eastern sits in fifth place with eight points, one behind Morehead State for fourth. Should the Panthers finish in third or fourth place, they would host a first round OVC tournament game.

Eastern has three games remaining in the regular season. Two of its opponents are against teams in the top four, with Tennessee Tech scheduled to make the trip to Lakeside Field on Thursday and Eastern traveling to play Little Rock on the final day of the season. Eastern will also face UT Martin at home next Sunday.

“Sometimes two wins and a couple ties gets the job done for the postseason,” Bennett said. “We’re not done yet, a lot of games left.”

Kickoff for Thursday’s game against Tennessee Tech is set for 3 p.m.

Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at ghnewman@eiu.edu.