So the women’s soccer team is heading to South Bend, Ind. Friday to face off with the Fighting Irish, but what does that mean for Eastern?

While Eastern may have defeated Southeast Missouri 1-0 for the NCAA berth, there are more serious matters to take into consideration – like the fact that Notre Dame is the seventh-best soccer team in the nation.

The Irish have visited the NCAA tournament semi-finals six times over the last seven years. They won the Big East Conference title to get them there again. They even have a 1995 national title.

For Eastern, this is their first NCAA tournament visit in the history of the women’s soccer program. They come into the tournament as the Ohio Valley Conference champions, but they didn’t even win the regular season crown.

Now Eastern will be thrust into the national spotlight, and the Panthers couldn’t be more excited. After all, they have to start somewhere, right?

The men’s basketball team visited the NCAA tournament last year. Women’s rugby visited nationals two years ago. The football team is about to do the same for the second consecutive season, and volleyball has an opportunity of its own this weekend at the OVC tournament.

Maybe the men’s basketball team lost, but it lost to Arizona, who finished runner-up to national champion Duke. Football may have lost to Montana, but the Grizzlies went all the way to finish second in the NCAA tournament.

Eastern has been the little dogs in every national tournament.

While it would be nice to see some second round advancement for a change, the women’s soccer team needs to be realistic.

While this is a good opportunity for Eastern as a whole to earn national recognition, they’re in the big league now. Notre Dame is a significantly larger school than Eastern, and the Fighting Irish have the tournament experience to run all over the Panthers.

It’s nice the women’s soccer team made the national tournament, but Notre Dame will show Eastern a stronger soccer program than the Panthers were exposed to in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Fighting Irish have already achieved the best with a national title in 1995. For now, the best for Eastern is just making it into the national playoff. And the Panthers are ecstatic.