The Eastern women’s soccer team might look more familiar than expected at its first game tonight.
Eastern didn’t lose a single player to the transfer portal after last season and only had to fill the gaps left by its graduated players.
“We probably have the most roster stability in the country if I’m honest,” said Dirk Bennett, who’s beginning his third season as head coach.
Among the returners are the top two goal scorers from last season.
In 2024, Abby Reinl’s eight goals was complimented by Alex Tetteh’s seven goals. The two combined for 15 out of the 19 goals scored by the team last year and Reinl was named Ohio Valley Conference midfielder of the year.
Now, the two junior forwards return as the Panthers prepare for their 30th season as a program.
Eastern finished the 2024 season with a 5-8-6 record and a 3-3-3 OVC record. With a larger squad than last year, the team is aiming for its first winning season since 2018.
“We’re trying to just stack good days upon good weeks upon good months upon good seasons,” said Bennett.
Reinl, who’s listed as a forward this season after being listed as a midfielder in 2024, joins Tetteh and the rest of the forwards.
Despite the positional change on paper, her role as a player trying to run in behind the defense won’t change much according to Bennett.
“The role she played was not very different than a forward, but that was how she was labeled,” Bennett said. “Now she’s sitting up a little bit higher. We have a different system this year initially that gets her a little bit closer to goal, so we’ll see how that goes.”
Eastern’s formation last year was a variation of a 4-4-2 with two traditional forwards in a strike partnership and four midfielders to go along with the defensive back four.
This season, Eastern will try a 4-3-3 formation, which allows Reinl to play as a winger where Bennett says she’s more comfortable.
The other wing position could be filled by sophomore forward Ella Dwyer. Bennett said he likes her energy and work rate and said she can play there or as a striker and even has the capability to drop down into the attacking midfield and add some creativity to Eastern’s attack.
Midfielder Ella Onstott returns as a senior captain, alongside junior forward Katiebeth May who replaces graduated midfielder Avery Richardson in the other leadership role.
As for who will replace Richardson’s midfield position, that’s still to be determined according to Bennett.
“The things that Avery [Richardson] does are so hard to replace and we have a few different types of players that can go in there and do things that maybe Avery [Richardson] couldn’t,” Bennett said. “But a one-for-one replacement is just so hard to do.”
Among the returners, Eastern retains nearly its entire 2024 defense. The Panthers bring back both of their starting center backs from last season. Sophomores Colleen Bauer and Casey Kittridge led the team in minutes played last season and started all but one conference game together.
Senior Kya Trejo could fill the right back spot while junior Ashlyn Nobles gets a chance to win the starting left back job. Both Trejo and Nobles recorded over 700 minutes last year mostly playing those outside back positions.
The Panthers also retain junior goalkeeper Ella Kratochvil, who was an OVC player to watch, and redshirt junior goalkeeper Ashlyn Hoover.
Eastern begins the season tonight in Carbondale against Southern Illinois University and travels to play the University of Akron before its home opener on Aug. 21 against IU Indy.
Eastern’s first OVC game is Sept. 21.
Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].
