Eastern Illinois vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
Thursday, August 29
5:00 p.m. – Charleston, Illinois (Lakeside Field)
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ON MAP: Eastern Illinois continues its home stretch on Thursday night as they will face Purdue Fort Wayne at Lakeside Field. This contest is the second game of a doubleheader as it follows the EIU women’s soccer game that begins at 2 p.m. The Panthers will look to pick up their second win of the season after beating the University of Chicago 3-0 in their season opener before losing to Detroit Mercy on Monday night. Purdue Fort Wayne comes into the matchup with a 0-1-0 record after losing their season opener to #3 West Virginia.
Next: Following Thursday night’s games, Eastern Illinois will head to its first road game of the season. The Panthers will travel to Evansville, Indiana to face the Aces on Wednesday, September 4th at 7 p.m. This will be the first game of a six-game road series, as the first night of OVC action for the Panthers begins on September 28th against Southern Indiana.
OFFENSIVE PRODUCTION: PhD student Sam Eccles was able to carry over his offensive output from the 2023 season, as he recorded two assists in the opening win against the University of Chicago. Eccles is already halfway to his 2023 assists, as he recorded three just last season. MichaelJackson currently leads EIU with two goals on the year, scoring one in each of the season’s games so far. OVC PLAYER TO WATCH: Eccles was also named EIU’s preseason Ohio Valley Conference Player to Watch after a strong 2023 season. He will look to build on his numbers from last season, where he totaled 1,381 minutes on the court and started all 18 games in which he appeared.
GOAL PRODUCTION RETURN: In addition, Eastern Illinois returns with the next two leaders for the 2023 season. Casey Welage And Felipe Kerr LourencoWelage finished the season with six points, with Kerr Lourenco following closely behind with five. Kyle Kimberling is about to return and he finished the season as the Panthers’ second-leading scorer.
FIGHT ON THE NET: In 2023, Eastern Illinois had three goalies split time throughout the season. Senior Chad Smith held the box for the majority of the season’s games, starting 11 of the 12 games he appeared in. In addition, EIU returns Joseph Whelan and Kyce Toutanji. Joseph and Toutanju have started all the games they have played in. In addition, the Panthers are strengthening the goal with a redshirt freshman Lucas Ortiz.
SERIES HISTORY: This will be the 21st meeting between Eastern Illinois and Purdue Fort Wayne. The last time these two teams met was in 2022, when the Panthers pulled away from Fort Wayne with a 1-0 win. EIU leads the all-time series 13-7.
HEAD COACH: Josh Oakley begins his third season as head coach of the EIU men’s soccer program. Oakley spent two years as an assistant coach on the Eastern Illinois staff from 2000-02. In June 2022, he was hired as the 11th head coach in the history of the EIU men’s soccer program and led EIU to a semifinal appearance in the OVC Tournament with a first-round win over Liberty. Prior to EIU, Oakley was the head coach of Lansing Common FC in the Midwest Premier League. During his time in the MWPL, Lansing Common FC produced three winners of the MWPL Golden Boot Award (given to the league’s top scorer).
