Eastern won both of its exhibition matches last week, winning at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Tuesday and at home against Evansville by identical 1-0 scores.

“I think it gives us a lot of confidence, especially for the new players and the returning players to come in and see that we can step up and do as well as we did last year despite losing eight players and if not, do better,” said senior midfielder Trisha Walter.

Freshman forward Alexis Miller scored against Evansville and junior forward Kellie Floyd scored the goal against SIU-E.

Out with the old, in with the new

Gone are eight seniors who led Eastern to four trips to the Ohio Valley Conference championship and three NCAA College Cup berths.

But with the loss of those seniors, Panther head coach Tim Nowak has welcomed eight freshmen into the program.

“I think our freshmen have injected a lot of youthful energy,” Nowak said. “Last year’s group was a veteran group that knew how to take care of business when they had to and that’s attributed to an older team. This is a younger team and we have to remind them of some things sometimes, but I love the energy and enthusiasm.”

Freshmen stepping up

Freshman goalkeeper Jenny Williams and Miller were two new players that shined in the two exhibition games.

Williams recorded two shutouts and made several key saves in Saturday’s win.

Miller assisted on Floyd’s goal against SIU-E and scored off a cross pass from Walter against Evansville.

Williams has the difficult task of not only replacing the OVC’s all-time leader in shutouts in Tiffany Groene, but also being the only goalie on the roster.

“She’s fearless back there and she has the respect of her teammates,” Nowak said about his goalkeeper.

Captains named

Nowak said that Walter and junior midfielder Karisa Brenner were elected as team captains by the team.

“There are a lot of younger players this year, we have a young team and I think it’s just natural just for everyone to look up to the older players,” Walter said.

Walter is one of three seniors on the team, along with Vicky Garrison and Kristy DeClark.

Panthers picked second

The OVC preseason poll tabbed Eastern to finish second in the conference. This is a familiar spot for the Panthers, as they have finished second the last five years during the regular season.

Defending league and tournament champion Samford was picked to finish first, with all 11 of its starters returning.