Eastern women’s soccer returned to Lakeside Field for a game for the first time since its fall season.

The Panthers played their second game of the spring season, losing 1-0 to Illinois State Saturday.

“I just like the fact that we got to get out and play on our home field on a gorgeous day,” head coach Dirk Bennett said.

The spring soccer season differs from the fall one because the results don’t matter. All the games played during the spring season are exhibition games.

While the results don’t matter, the performances do matter to Bennett.

Another major difference in the spring season is that while they’re still playing 90-minute games, instead of playing two 45-minute halves they play three periods that each last a half-hour.

“You have very few matches to kind of evaluate talent and spread the minutes around to some that need that,” Bennett said. “So for us, it’s a lot of growth. We had a lot of energy at the start of each period and we kind of fell off towards the ends, so we have some learning to do.”

One thing Bennett has noticed is that the team does well to put pressure on the opponent until they get tired, which he says is because the Panthers sometimes don’t do a great job of retaining the ball.

In the fall, Eastern was a team that liked to go forward on the counterattack, allowing players like sophomore forward Alex Tetteh and sophomore midfielder Abby Reinl to make a run behind the opponent’s defensive line.

This style of play was on full display against Illinois State, with the Panthers creating multiple chances from their own half of the field.

This was the second game of the spring season, after last week’s game against Indiana was moved to Mattoon High School.

The large rain amounts from last week made it a challenge to play on the natural grass of Lakeside Field, so the game was played in Mattoon to take advantage of the artificial turf.

“This is our first game back on the grass, so we’re still kind of working some things out,” sophomore forward Alex Tetteh said. “It’s good to get back on the ball and kind of get back into the flow of things before the fall comes.”

Tetteh is working on taking on more defenders, she said, which is when a player dribbles at their opponent as opposed to trying to go around them. Tetteh said that she’s trying to develop that skill for the fall season, as well as improve her physicality.

The spring season also allows for some new players to get a chance to get some minutes before the results of the games matter in the fall.

One of those new faces is redshirt sophomore midfielder Amelia Mundo, who missed all of the fall season recovering from a sprained ACL.

Mundo saw significant minutes playing on the left side against Illinois State, although no official record of exactly how many minutes she played was kept.

It was fun to finally get out and get a feel for how her teammates play, Mundo said, and get to put her practice to good use.

“I think most importantly, I’m just trying to gain my confidence and do what I do best,” Mundo said. “I like dribbling, so just taking all the opportunities I can get.”

Mundo said she’s learned so far that composure is important, and that she has to trust her ability when she’s on the ball.

Eastern will travel to play Purdue in its next spring game on April 23 before finishing the spring season off with a home game against Illinois Central College.

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