Junior forward Abby Reinl floated in a header across the goal and into the top left corner for the game-winning goal against Morehead State in a 1-0 win Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Field.
The game was played in front of alumni of the program throughout the last three decades to celebrate the 30th anniversary of women’s soccer becoming a Division I program.
The goal was scored in the 20th minute when freshman midfielder Camylle Graves sent in a cross to Reinl. This is Graves’ third assist of the season, moving into a tie with senior midfielder Ella Onstott for the team lead. Graves had just substituted into the game with the assist being her first touch of the game.
“My goal is a assist a game so I was really happy,” said Graves. “I was so stoked that was a goal.”
Reinl has now tied her and junior forward Alex Tetteh with six goals each on the season. The pair had totaled 15 goals in total through the season last year and are now sitting at 12 with five more games left in the regular season. This goal also put Reinl 10th on the Eastern women’s soccer goal-scorer list.
Eastern pushes their record of clean sheets in a row to six, not conceding a goal in 550 minutes. Junior goalkeeper Ella Kratochvil totaled five saves in the game. Getting multiple jumping saves to keep the streak alive.
“I’m very proud of the defense,” Kratochvil said. “It’s easy to have a clean sheet when the defense just does their job and they have been doing their job the entire season.”
The Panthers (7-4-2, 4-0) are now four points ahead at the top of the table, with second place being a tie between Tennessee Tech, who beat Lindenwood 4-1, and Southern Indiana, who drew 1-1 with Little Rock.
“Their finding ways to win,” said head coach Dirk Bennett. “Whether they play well or don’t play well and that the hallmark of a really good team.”
The Panthers have shown a nine-point improvement on the results from last season. Last year, they had lost to SIUE, UT Martin and Morehead State; all games that they have proceeded to win this year.
Eastern dominated in the first half, particularly after the goal, resulting in Eastern with 63 percent of the possession at halftime. The Panthers managed the game very well despite only taking a total of three shots throughout the first half.
Morehead State made some changes going into the second half trying to claw back from their one-goal deficit, and they were able to put much more pressure on by totaling 12 shots in the second half with 15 total compared to Eastern’s 12 total.
“They put another one up top which allows them to break our lines easier,” said Kratochvil. “They had some quick nines [forwards] so they changed their formation and then they changed it again.”
Today’s win comes in front of 30 years of Eastern alumni who were present throughout the weekend and were supporting the players throughout practice. Many were with them at the tailgate before EIU’s football game on Saturday.
“That was really fun to hear what they had to say,” said Reinl. “They kind of paved the way for us. It was really nice being able to spend some time with them.”
There were roughly 20 alumni who were recognized at halftime, with every different era of EIU’s women’s soccer history being recognized.
“We got to meet some of the older alumni too,” said Serra Pizano, a women soccer alum who graduate in 2023. “I feel like without them we wouldn’t be able to be here and without us they wouldn’t be able to be here.”
Eastern’s next game is on Oct. 9 against Southern Indiana at Lakeside Field at 3 p.m. They look to go 5-0 in conference play and stay on top of the OVC.
“The job is not finished.” said Kratochvil. “Our next focus is Thursday. I’m not thinking about anything other than Thursday.”
Emerson Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or at etreynolds@eiu.edu.
