With the hiring of Tim Nowak as the new Eastern women’s head soccer coach, it not only means the start of a new era for the Panthers, it means they can finally get back to business.

Former head coach Steve Ballard announced his resignation to the team on Jan. 25, and for nearly the last two months, the Panthers were conducting off-season training virtually on their own.

And they are excited to have a new coach and to start refocusing.

“It’ll be nice to get back into the swing of things since we haven’t been able to practice with a coach,” said freshman Michelle Steinhaus who was on the search committee that interviewed candidates. “The whole process was so time-consuming; I’m glad it’s over.”

Junior goalkeeper Tiffany Groene will get the added bonus of having a coach who was a goalie himself and will no doubt boost the already strong Panther defense.

“That’s wasn’t necessarily what we were looking for,” said Steinhaus. “But, it was definitely a plus.”

Nowak started three years in goal at Western and also has his National Soccer Coaches Association of America Level One goalkeeping license.

“It’s great because we’ll actually have goalie training,” Groene said. “Ballard had little to no goal keeping experience.

“A goalie coach can see the game from both ends a lot more; the whole defense will be better.”

For the nine seniors on the roster next year, having the only women’s soccer coach at Eastern leave right before their final season is tough, but Groene thinks it may not be as bad as it seems.

“It’s a total spark for us and gives us a whole new fire,” Groene said. “Since we’ve kind of built a dynasty (in the Ohio Valley Conference), it could be the best thing that happened to us because it will take some pressure off.”

For the younger players like Steinhaus, they’ll have more than just a year to adjust to a new system. But Steinhaus said she knows it won’t be easy.

“By the time you get to a Division I school, you’ve been coached a lot of different ways, which can be frustrating,” Steinhaus said. “It’s going to be a lot of work on both ends, and we’re both going to have to be patient.”