Junior forward and captain Katiebeth May found the top right corner of the net just before halftime to give Eastern the lead for good in a 2-0 win over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Field.
The goal was orchestrated by freshman midfielder Camylle Graves, who found May in the 43rd minute for her first goal of the season and second career Eastern goal.
May only played for 11 minutes, being subbed in for the last 11 minutes of the first half. She has been working to come back from a right ankle injury that she suffered during the Panthers’ 2-1 victory over Valparaiso. This marks her first goal in conference play and her first goal and shot on the season.
‘It just felt good to get a goal early on in the game.” said May “It was nice because it was a little bit stressful just trying to come back and make sure the level of play from prior to when I was injured didn’t drop.”
Graves wasn’t a starter, but after being subbed on in the first half, she never left the field. She had a career-high 58 minutes in total in today’s game. She played a very important role in securing the left wing and using her speed to maneuver around players throughout the match, said head coach Dirk Bennett.
“She’s trained well but I think the game today called for some qualities she had,” Bennett said. “As long as it’s working and she can keep going and give us the thumbs up, she’s gonna stay in.”
Graves found herself on the other end of multiple fouls. The game was scrappy, with both teams having 10 fouls each. The only yellow card of the game was given to SIUE’s Taryn Moore when she pulled on Graves’ shirt early in the second half as she was about to be through in on goal at midfield.
“I found [how many fouls SIUE was committing] pretty funny, so I was giggling at some of them,” Graves said. “They’re usually pretty easy to draw and they get irritated easily.”
Junior forward Abby Reinl scored her 5th goal of the season on a through ball sent into her by senior midfielder Ella Onstott in her second assist of the season.
“I love when she plays the balls that may not be the best on the ground, but I know I’m going to get there,” said Reinl. “Especially when the girl started grabbing my jersey, I was not going to let her catch me. All I had to do was put it away and I got the job done.”
Eastern controlled the game , keeping 62% of the possession throughout, doubling SIUE’s shot count from 15 to 7 and keeping possession on SIUE’s side of the field for 67% of the game.
This marks EIU’s first game and win in the Ohio Valley Conference. Eastern (4-4-2, 1-0) extended SIUE’s (1-8-1, 0-1) losing streak to eight and snapped the Cougars seven-game winning streak in the all-time series by winning for the first time since 2018.
It was also Bennett’s first win as head coach over SIUE.
Cougar goalkeeper Sarah Bozeman had to be subbed off with an injury in the second half. She had fallen after taking a goal kick in the 68th minute, and after a long stoppage she tried to carry on, but had to come out of the game three minutes later after diving to try and reach a shot that was headed for the top corner.
EIU after today’s game now has three consecutive clean sheets for the first time since 2022.
“I can’t tell you the last time we’ve had three sheets,” said Bennett. “I was trying to do whatever it took to keep these guys composed and they rose up to the challenge”
EIU’s next game will be at Western Illinois on Thursday, kickoff for Thursday’s game is at 5 p.m.
Emerson Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].
