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RICHMOND, Ky. – Following two narrow road losses last weekend, the Eastern Kentucky University women’s soccer team will look to get back on the winning track this weekend when the Colonels (6-6-2, 3-2-0 OVC) travel to play Jacksonville State on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Austin Peay on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

The OVC race is currently wide open. Morehead State is the clear frontrunner with a 4-0-1 conference record; however, there are three teams tied for second place with 3-2 records (EKU, Southeast Missouri State and UT Martin) and three teams tied for third place with 2-2-1 records (APSU, Eastern Illinois and Murray State).

“The conference race is very close right now, so this weekend will be interesting,” head coach Lindsay Basalyga said. “A lot of teams’ postseason fates will be sealed.”

After bursting out of the gates with three straight home wins to begin the conference season, the Colonels returned to reality last weekend when they suffered a pair of 1-0 road losses to SEMO and EIU. The offense sputtered away from the friendly confines of EKU Soccer Field and the defense lost one of its key members, junior Heather Bruce, for the season with an injury.

Still, the Colonel defense has allowed only three goals in five conference games and it continues to be a strong anchor for this year’s team. Junior Stephanie Murray has played every minute of every game (1,313 minutes) at center back this season. She will team up with sophomores Deja Tennon (1,220 minutes) and Hayley Wright (1,047 minutes) to try to minimize the effects of Bruce’s loss on the backline.

The Colonel offense, meanwhile, will look to regroup after getting blanked in consecutive games last weekend. Freshman Nicole Donnelly leads the Colonels with five goals, three during conference play, but was, for the most part, held in check by SEMO and EIU. Senior veteran Carly Muller leads the team with 16 shots on goal and is second on the team with three goals. Donnelly and Muller will look to jump start the EKU attack on Friday night against a JSU defense that has allowed seven goals in five OVC games.

The Gamecocks are eighth in the conference with a 1-4 record, but they could easily jump back into contention with wins this weekend. JSU’s lone conference win came against a strong SEMO team.

JSU is led offensively by 2008 first-team All-OVC forward Chelsea Pelletier, who enters this weekend with seven goals on the season, two of which have come during conference play.

APSU is tied for third in the conference with a 2-2-1 record. The Lady Govs (who lead the conference with 10 wins overall) dominated their non-conference schedule, but have mustered only two goals in five OVC games so far. APSU, who will play at first-place Morehead State on Friday night before hosting EKU on Sunday, has scored conference wins over EIU and JSU.

The Lady Govs are led offensively by freshman Tatiana Ariza, who has recorded seven goals and four assists on the year.

EKU will be searching for only its second road win of the season this weekend. The Colonels’ lone road win was a 2-1 victory at Detroit Mercy on Sept. 19.

“This week of training has hopefully got us back on track,” Basalyga said. “All we can do is take the lessons from this last weekend and learn from them.”