A title fight is a new experience for everyone on the EIU women’s soccer team. 

It’s even a new experience for head coach Dirk Bennett. 

There’s a difference, he says, between chasing a team in first place and being the team in first place getting chased by the other teams. 

“We have not really had the target on our back quite like we have had this conference season so far, so that’s a new experience and it’s a privilege,” Bennett said. “But what that also means is you just going to get everyone’s best game constantly.” 

That was the case in Sunday’s 1-0 win against SEMO, he said. It took until the 83rd minute to find the breakthrough goal courtesy of junior forward Alex Tetteh.  

Her Ohio Valley Conference-leading fourth game-winning goal of the season and eighth goal of the season in total helped the Panthers (8-4-3, 5-0-1) restore their four point cushion between themselves and second place with three games to go.  

Eastern controls its own destiny towards claiming its first regular season title since 2000 and third in program history.  

Standing in the Panthers’ way, however, are the three best teams from last season.  

Lindenwood, Little Rock and Tennessee Tech all had a shot to win the regular season title last season all the way up until the final day. 

Now, Eastern must play those three teams in the final three games of the regular season.  

“You never dare to envision that you start off 5-0-1,” Bennett said. “So, it’s nice. It’s a relief, but there’s just still so much to go. We’re two-thirds through the conference season. The last third is a buzz saw.”

Eastern travels to play Lindenwood on Thursday. The Panthers clinch a top four finish with a win.  

Finishing in the top four is important because it gives the Panthers a bye through the first round; the round that has ended the team’s season the past two years.  

Finishing as a three or a four seed guarantees Eastern a first-round bye and a home postseason game in the quarterfinals.  

A second-place finish would mean that Eastern gets a double-bye to the semifinals, while a regular season championship means that the OVC tournament would run through Lakeside Field, as the Panthers would host the semifinals and final as the 1-seed.  

“It’s going to be a massive test,” Bennett said. “It’s great that we put ourselves in the position that we are in, but if we want to be the best we also have to beat the best.” 

Here are four takeaways from the first six games of OVC play. 

1. Eastern’s core has been unshaken and improved.

Women’s soccer last year saw a major step up from the year before. Players like Tetteh and junior forward Abby Reinl saw a major jump in their goal-scoring production, and the team overall was an improvement on years prior.

Eastern has made a similar sized jump again this year. With three games left in the season, Reinl and Tetteh have tallied 14 goals in total. At the end of the regular season last year, the pair had 15. 

The reason for the leap is that the core for Eastern was mainly retained over the summer. Outside of graduation, the team did not lose a single player to the transfer portal.  

Of the key players that did graduate, the holes left in the team were filled nicely.  

Returners like senior midfielder Ella Onstott and redshirt junior midfield Kylie Mahoney were able to reinforce the midfield. Onstott, who is playing in a creative midfield role, is tied for the team lead with three assists. Players like Mahoney and redshirt junior defensive midfielder Liz Galvin have taken turns anchoring the midfield, which allows the back line to better organize itself.  

That was a major contributing factor in Eastern’s 646 minute long stretch without conceding a goal.  

Another major factor that has led to success is the new faces that have come to the program. In the game against SEMO, five different true freshmen came off the bench to provide a spark. 

2. Eastern wing play is enabling chances

 Eastern’s wing play has been the main enabling factor in their offense, with most chances coming from the wing and being crossed in.  

Reinl has been vital in this position as a forward for multiple years now, and freshman forward Camylle Graves has found her footing being a facilitator from the wing, grabbing three assists on the season and being tied for the most assists on the team.

3. Eastern’s defensive depth chart is deep

Eastern’s defense has been the focal point of why this team has succeeded so much this year. The team kept up a clean sheet streak that lasted six games, which was the third-longest streak in OVC history. 

Last year, Eastern at this point had conceded 23 goals and would go on to concede three more before the year’s end. Currently, the Panthers have only conceded 17, with only one of those goals being conceded in conference.

Eastern’s defense has been resilient in the face of injury. Freshman defender Adison Welsh had been a starter in the Eastern defensive line but faced injury after the Morehead State game. Eastern called upon their bench, bringing in sophomore defender Casey Kittridge, and in the two games since, they have only conceded one goal. 

 4. Set pieces are a game within the game

Against Southern Indiana, Tetteh scored Eastern’s goal shortly after halftime from a corner kick. There was a noticeable increase in Panthers players crowding the 6-yard box. As the corner kick came in, it was low toward the front post. Typically, those are balls that the goalkeeper should deal with. However, with the amount of traffic in front of USI goalkeeper Anna Markland, she decided to stay on her goal line and let the defense try to clear it.  

That decision resulted in a failed clearance, followed by a loose ball among many bodies in close proximity, which led to Tetteh being able to slide in and poke the ball into the net.  

Southern Indiana’s previous game before playing Eastern may have been the reason why that goal was scored. In the Screaming Eagles’ game against Little Rock, a cross from the Trojans went right through Markland’s 6-yard box. She had opted to stay on her goal line, which led to the goal as the Trojan goalscorer found space on the far post.  

Whether that was on Markland’s mind as the Eastern corner kick approached her or not, the added bodies in front of her influenced her decision to stay put rather than grabbing or punching the ball clear.  

Because Markland displayed a conservative approach to crosses, the Panthers took advantage with a set piece, in this case a corner kick, to score the goal.  

Kickoff for Eastern’s game against Lindenwood is set for 3 p.m. 

Gabe Newman and Emerson Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or at densportsdesk@gmail.com