It’s her first year as women’s soccer coach at Eastern, but Summer Perala does not only know her players but she knows the sport.

Perala is a graduate of Western Illinois University where she played soccer as a goalkeeper for four years.

She has left a legacy behind.

She finished her soccer career as an all-time saves leader in WIU and Summit League history.

As a college goalkeeper, she held the record of most saves per game from 1999 to 2007.

Perala’s soccer career did not begin as a teenager but at an even younger age.

“I’ve been playing soccer since I was six or seven,” she said. “I did A.Y.S.O. (American Youth Soccer Organization), but I did not get into club soccer until middle school just because my parents wanted to make sure that I was serious about it.”

Prior to coming to Eastern, Perala got plenty of coaching experience at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

That is where she transitioned from a graduate assistant to an associate head coach after working with the institution for six years.

“I started coaching club when I was still in college,” she said. “I coached a high school team when I was transitioning between my undergrad and my graduate school-then I got hired in Birmingham and I was there for six years. I got my first head coaching job here.”

Perala said having passion is important when coaching because if a coach does not have passion, it affects the team as a whole.

“Be passionate about your sport or whatever you plan on coaching because if you don’t love it, then your players will get the feeling that you are not in it for the right reasons,” Perala said.

Erika Prazma, a junior criminology major and defense for Eastern’s womens soccer team, described Perala as dedicated.

“On the field Summer is a very competitive, hard driven, and enthusiastic coach about the game, and off of the field she is usually thinking of ways to make us a better team,” Prazma said.

Prazma, who has played for Eastern for three years, said that Perala has a better insight about soccer since she was a goalkeeper.

“Summer has a good knowledge of the game and from being a goalie in her career she can see the big picture and give good direction to each position,” Prazma said

Perala’s usual formation for the women’s soccer team is a 4-4-3, which divides half of the soccer field into four defenders, four midfielders, two wings and one striker.

When it comes to working with players during practices or games, Perala said she would rather work with a hard-working dedicated player than with a talented player who will play only when she wants to.

“I think we can work more with a player who is dedicated and committed to be competitive, coachable, intense to helping improve not only themselves but her teammates,” Perala said. “Because if we have that person who is absolutely amazing with the ball and a dazzling player but if they play only when they want to or when they feel like it, it’s kind of a black hole in the field.”

Coach Perala’s short-term goals for the women’s soccer team is to finish the top three in the conference this fall, win conference regular season, and then advance to the NCAA Tournament.

Pablo Rodriguez can be reached at 581-7942 or at [email protected].