It’s been an emphatic start to the season for junior goalkeeper Ella Kratochvil, who has kept a clean sheet in six consecutive games for EIU women’s soccer.
This form, which is a program record, has helped the Panthers (7-4-2, 4-0) have their most successful start to an Ohio Valley Conference campaign since 2013.
This feat also pushes Kratochvil into the top five of all-time EIU clean sheet records. Her career total of 14 puts her in tied for fourth with Kaylin Lorbert, who played from 2007 to 2010.
Two more shutouts would place her into the top three.
Kratochvil, who spent the first half of last season out due to a preseason injury, came back in late September 2024 to play nine games for Eastern. She made her season debut in the team’s second conference game of the season in a 0-0 draw with Lindenwood.
This season, she has only conceded nine goals from the 57 shots she has faced and, only facing five shots in her last game, she says her relationship with her strong defensive back line is just as significant to the conference record as her own shot-stopping.
“I’m very proud of the defense,” she said after Eastern’s 1-0 win over Morehead State on Sunday. “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.”
While the team’s defensive record has been the highlight of the campaign so far, scoring goals wins games. The Panthers have not been short of these as of late either.
Junior forwards Alex Tetteh and Abby Reinl have already put away six goals each this season which is tied for second-most in the OVC.
Of the 15 goals scored this season, eight have come in OVC play. Eastern is now only four goals away from matching its total from the 2024 season, and finding this balance of attacking prowess and defensive composure has been key to this year’s strong start.
Thursday’s game against Southern Indiana will be the next big test for head coach Dirk Bennett’s side. The Screaming Eagles (5-5-3, 2-0-2) are currently tied second in the standings, four points behind EIU.
USI is also second in goals scored this season at 18, though the team has only found the net four times across its first four OVC games.
Last year’s game against Southern Indiana saw Reinl score a late equalizer to see a 1-1 tie in Evansville, Indiana. That game was the first of five where Reinl scored at least one goal per game.
Thursday’s game is set for a 3 p.m. kickoff at Lakeside Field.
Ethan Vine can be reached at 581-2812 or ejvine@eiu.edu.
