With a win against Austin Peay and a Samford tie or loss, the Eastern women’s soccer team will have to go no further than Lakeside Field to earn a spot in its third consecutive NCAA Women’s College Cup.

Eastern hosts Austin Peay at 2 p.m. Friday at Lakeside Field for its last Ohio Valley Conference regular season game with hopes of winning the conference crown.

If the Panthers can pick up an expected win against the 1-6 Governors, they will be waiting to see the outcome of the Jacksonville State versus Samford game, which is later that night.

“I imagine around 9 or 9:30 I might be checking in,” Eastern coach Steve Ballard said.

But Austin Peay must come first. The Panthers have had their fair share of scares from opponents Ballard said they should be able to beat.

“One of our difficulties on this team is teams we expect to beat, we haven’t played well against,” Ballard said.

“We have to come out and play our game and take care of what needs to be done early. We will see if we have learned that.”

The Governors have had little success in OVC play, ranking sixth in goals scored (25) and seventh in goals against (38) while winning just one game.

Ballard sees this matchup as a time to get some fine-tuning on his lineup to prepare for the conference tournament.

“I like where we are at,” he said. “Regardless of where we are playing after this week, I really like this team right now.”

Eastern has had the exact opposite season to Austin Peay. The Panthers are undefeated in conference play (5-0-2) and have only lost once in its last nine games.

Part of that reason has been the play of the defense, which is has been commanded by sophomore goalkeeper Tiffany Groene.

Groene was recently named Defensive Player of the Week for the conference and has been solid in the net since she took over the starting role.

“She’s been very diligent,” Ballard said. “For two year. she has worked very hard to get to where she is at (after an ACL injury). She deserves so much credit for how hard she has worked to come back.”

The OVC tournament begins Tuesday with semifinal games being played Nov. 7, and the championship game being played Nov. 9.

Ballard said late October and November are his team’s time for excellence.

“It’s the time of year where our soccer program is known for playing well,” Ballard said.