In-state rivalries and playing at home make Adam Howarth happy about this weekend.

The Eastern men’s soccer coach and his team host both Western Illinois and Northern Illinois at Lakeside Field.

“It’s an in-state rivalry weekend and we just are going in trying to play to our ability,” Howarth said. “(We want) to give a good showing and get close to getting everything to where we want it to be.”

The Panthers make their home debut at 4 p.m. Friday against Western, which was picked to finish third in the Mid-Continent Conference and is returning 16 players from last year’s team. The Leathernecks were also ranked seventh in the most recent Midwest Region poll from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

“Western is going to be solid,” Howarth said. “They are going to be quick and fast and we want to make sure we can slow them down.”

This will mark the 42nd time the teams have met with Eastern, holding a commanding lead at 30-7-4 and have won the last five.

The Panthers then take on the Huskies at 1 p.m. Sunday at Lakeside Field.

Northern has fallen to a 0-2-1 record in its first three games this season, but has faced off against a few solid teams including No. 18 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The Huskies were picked to finish in last of the seven teams in the Mid-American Conference preseason poll.

Eastern leads the all-time series 14-6-2 and has won the last four contests.

Howarth said he looks to his forwards to give both teams trouble. Sophomore Jimmy Klatter showed he can have a successful second year after netting three goals against Rhode Island last weekend for his first career hat trick.

“Any team is going to have a hard time trying to stop (our forwards),” Howarth said. “We want to keep the ball moving and get the ball to them as quickly as possible.”