The Eastern women’s soccer team will be playing in its first Ohio Valley Conference tournament match since 2011, taking on No. 4 seed Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at 4 p.m. Thursday in Martin, Tenn.

The Cougars are certainly a team Eastern is familiar with, having played them Sunday at Lakeside Field. 

Edwardsville beat the Panthers 2-1 to give Eastern its third straight loss and drop it to the No. 5 seed in the tournament.

After Sunday’s match, senior Brenna Vogel called it one of the more physical teams the Panthers have played this season and that she expects the next game to be the same. Eastern coach Jason Cherry agreed.

“Yeah, they’re one of the most physical teams we’ve played,” he said. “They’re good size, big bodied and they go into tackles and they make you feel it.”

Sunday’s match saw 23 fouls, but no cards were issued to either team. Cherry said the officials were letting the teams play.

“We’ve had a couple battles this year that were like that, but the referee let us play (in Sunday’s match),” he said. “He was consistent with it, so I don’t mind it.  I think we’re capable of playing that way, but we also don’t want to get away with what’s helped us be successful.”

Edwardsville goalkeeper Jennifer Pelley, a sophomore from St. Charles, Mo., made one save in Sunday’s win and gave up just one goal to Eastern’s Meagan Radloff. 

Pelley, who has started all 19 matches for the Cougars this season, has led the team to an OVC-best 13 goals allowed.

Eastern’s Cortney Jerzy gave up two second-half goals against the Cougars, giving her loss number seven on the season. 

Eastern has made 130 total saves this season, split three ways between Jerzy, red-shirt freshman Kylie Morgan and sophomore Emily Hinton, tied for the best in the OVC with Tennessee-Martin.

Cherry said what he learned after Sunday’s match was that Eastern needs to find a way to match Edwardsville’s physicality.

“I think you can learn a lot from a game: strategies, tactics, how they look to play, the physicality of it,” he said. “They’re a big, physical team and we have to match that.” 

Despite the loss, Cherry still saw some positives from the match, which can help the Panthers on Thursday.

“I thought it was a good game, good energy from both sides, but they kind of took us out of our game a little bit, so we need to try to possess a little bit more and counter them a little bit,” he said. “I think if we do that and try and challenge them physically in the game, we’ll be fine.”

The Panthers will again have to see freshman Kayla Delgado, who had one goal and one assist on Sunday, adding to her team-high 19 points this season. Delgado’s nine goals this season is the third most in the OVC.

Radloff’s goal against Edwardsville was her first since the Jacksonville State match on Oct. 18. The Panthers had not scored a goal in either of their last two matches against Tennessee-Martin or Southeast Missouri. Eastern is 5-1 this season when Radloff scores a goal. She leads the team with seven goals.

Eastern forward Chris Reed will again get to play against her sister Mary Kate, a senior defender for Edwardsville. Cherry said the two talk often throughout the season.

“Those two talk every week, so hopefully Chris didn’t give her any insight, but they talk,” he said. “It’s a good matchup. They actually went at it last game. Hopefully Chris gets the better of her sister this game.”

Eastern and Edwardsville will be the first match of the 2013 OVC tournament, with the winner advancing to take on No. 1 seed Tennessee-Martin.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].