Eastern Illinois women’s soccer will play nine home matches during the upcoming season. In addition to the nine regular season home matches, EIU will open the year with a pair of home exhibition matches with Illinois-Chicago on August 8 and Evansville on August 14.
The regular season will begin on the road at Bowling Green on Friday, Aug. 19 with a trip to IPFW on August 21. The Panthers home opener will be on Friday, August 26 against Oakland City University at 3:00pm at Lakeside Field. EIU then heads back on the road for a pair of matches at Illinois State and Chicago State.
A September 4 home date with Indiana State begins a five game home stand for EIU with IUPUI, Northern Iowa, Southeast Missouri and UT Martin all set to play in Charleston. The September 23 match with Southeast Missouri will be the Panthers Ohio Valley Conference opener. This season EIU also hosts Belmont, Murray State and Austin Peay in home league matches. The Austin Peay match on Sunday, October. 16 will be the final home match of the season.
EIU will play five OVC matches on the road including the final three matches of the season at Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee Tech and SIU Edwardsville. The SIUE contest is on Thursday, October 27 and is the final regular season match. EIU will also travel to Jacksonville State and Morehead State for league play.
The OVC Tournament will open on campus sites on Sunday, October 30 with teams seeded 3-through-6 playing in the opening round. The two winners will advance to the semifinals on Friday, November 4. The OVC Tournament will be hosted by the regular season champion with the No. 2 seed also receiving a bye into the semifinals. The schedule is posted in full below.
2016 EIU Women’s Soccer Schedule
Aug. 8 – Illinois-Chicago (ex.)
Aug. 14 – Evansville (ex.)
Aug. 19 – at Bowling Green
Aug. 21 – at IPFW
Aug. 26 – Oakland City
Aug. 28 – at Illinois State
Sept. 2 – at Chicago State
Sept. 4 – Indiana State
Sept. 9 – IUPUI
Sept. 11 – Northern Iowa
Sept. 23 – Southeast Missouri *
Sept. 25 – UT Martin *
Sept. 30 – at Jacksonville State *
Oct. 2 – Belmont *
Oct. 9 – at Morehead State *
Oct. 14 – Murray State *
Oct. 16 – Austin Peay *
Oct. 21 – at Eastern Kentucky *
Oct. 23 – at Tennessee Tech *
Oct. 27 – at SIU Edwardsville *
Oct. 30 – OVC Tournament