Eastern Illinois (0-0-1) vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (1-0)
Sunday, August 21
3 p.m. at Lakeside Field (Charleston, Ill.)
Watch on ESPN+ | Live Stats
ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois opened the 2022 season with a 0-0 draw against preseason Missouri Valley Conference favorite Valparaiso. The Panthers had a late scoring opportunity in the match with shots on goal Jenna Little and Kenzie Balcerak. EIU hosts a Purdue Fort Wayne team that won its season opener against Chicago State.
BERMEO WITH A CLEAN SHEET: Veteran Eastern Illinois goalkeeper Daniela Bermeo had a clean sheet in the Panthers season opening draw with Valparaiso. Bermeo had four saves in the win. It was her first start in a regular season match since the spring of 2020 COVID season when she made six starts in goal. The shutout was the second of Bermeo’s career, the other a 1-0 overtime win against Morehead State.
LITTLE SCORES IN EXHIBITION PLAY: Eastern Illinois scored three goals during exhibition play with forwards Jenna Little leading the way with two of the Panthers’ three goals. Little scored against both Illinois Springfield and IUPUI. Sarah Hagg would collect the other goal in exhibition play for EIU.
RETURNING ALL-OVC: Eastern Illinois returns two All-Ohio Valley Conference performers from last season Zenaya Barnes and Sarah Hagg. Barnes was a second team All-OVC selection at forward. Hagg was a second team All-OVC selection at defender while also earning All-OVC Newcomer honors.
RULE CHANGE: The NCAA will no longer have overtime sessions during regular season play. Last season EIU had three overtime contests picking up two draws while losing a third game in the extra session. The Panthers have played three or more overtime matches in each of the last four seasons with six of those contests resulting in a win or loss for EIU.
DAVIES RETURNS IN NET: Eastern Illinois returns veteran goalkeeper Faith Davies who will be in the net for her third season. Last season Davies had four shutouts while posting a 1.76 goals against average.
GOAL SCORERS RETURN: Eastern Illinois returns six players who scored at least one goal last season for the Panthers. Included in that group are Zenaya Barnes, Nicoletta Anucci and Serra Pisano who were all multiple goal scorers for EIU last season.
OVC PLAYERS TO WATCH: Amanda DaSilva was named the Eastern Illinois player to watch in the OVC this season. A veteran player, DaSilva will slide to the Panthers back line this season after starting 16 of 17 contests last season. She was one of four field players to log more than 1,200 minutes on the pitch last season.
LIFT FOR LIFE: Eastern Illinois women’s soccer once again took part in the Lift for Life event which raises money in the fight against Rare Diseases. Kenzie Balcerak and Jenna Little have spearheaded the women’s soccer participation in this event which was originally done by the EIU football team. The annual fundraiser is done in conjunction with Uplifting Athletes took place on Aug. 19.
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the 7th meeting between Eastern Illinois and Purdue Fort Wayne. The Panthers hold a slight 3-2-1 all-time lead in the series with the two schools playing to a 0-0 draw in 2021.
NEXT UP: Eastern Illinois will play three matches on the road before returning home to face Northern Illinois on Sept. 4. EIU begins the three match road trip on Aug. 25 at Indiana State with trips to UIC and Illinois State before coming back to Charleston for home action.
HEAD COACH: Jake Plant enters his fifth season as the head coach of the Eastern Illinois women’s soccer team. A 2014 EIU alumnus and former member of the Panthers men’s soccer program, Plant was the assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s program for two years with one additional season as an assistant for the men’s program before being named EIU women’s head coach in 2018. Plant led EIU to a 6-8-6 record in his first season including a 4-3-3 record in OVC play. In 2019, he once again took EIU to the OVC Tournament winning a first-round match. He enters his fifth season with a record of 16-36-13 with a 10-20-8 record in OVC matches having made the OVC Tournament in three of four seasons. He is a native of Birmingham, England. He is assisted by Dirk Bennett.