Coming off its first victory of the season, the Eastern women’s soccer team finds themselves in seventh place in the OVC with conference play right around the corner.

With a record of 1-2-2, the Panthers are between Jacksonville State and Belmont in the standings. 

Eastern is one of only five teams in the conference who won their last match, having beaten Chicago State 2-0 on Sept. 2.

Eastern has the third most saves in the conference and the second most shutout wins. 

Individually, junior Sarah DeWolf and sophomore Haylee Renick are tied for the 5th most goals in the conference with two each. 

Junior goalkeeper Sara Teteak leads the conference in save percentage with a mark of .857, allowing only three goals on 18 shots. 

Junior defender Lindsey Carlson was named the OVC Defender of the Week for her play this past weekend. 

There are only four teams in the OVC with records over .500. There were five such teams last season. 

Picking up where they left off is Murray State, who finished first last season and find themselves atop the standings once again. 

They are 4-1 so far and are there due to, in large part, the play of Miyah Watford. The junior forward leads the OVC with 37 shots, 11 points and five goals. 

She had six goals last season and is well on her way to surpassing that total. 

At 4-2 and in second place is Eastern Kentucky. Their leader in goals is Sarah Owusu with three, the 2nd most in the conference. 

Leading the conference in team goals is Tennessee-Martin. They have 14 so far as a result of an extremely balanced offense. 

Nine players have found the net for Tennessee-Martin in 2018, and four of them have scored multiple goals. 

Tennessee-Martin was 6-11-3 last season and are already halfway to that win total. They are currently 3-2. 

Eastern’s first conference opponent, Morehead State, is off to a rough start this season. They are in last place with a 1-5 record. 

They have been outscored 15-3 this season, but these numbers have been inflated by an 8-0 loss to Ohio State. The Buckeyes were the No. 2 team in the Big-10 in a preseason poll. 

The Panthers will travel to play Morehead State on Sept. 14. 

After that, the Panthers will play a stretch against each of the top-three teams in the OVC. 

A road game against Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 16 closes out the first weekend of the conference season.

Then the Panthers will face Murray State on Sept. 21 and Austin Peay on Sept. 23, both home games for Eastern. 

Adam Tumino  can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]