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RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University soccer team will look to continue its hot play this weekend on a road trip to the western faction of Ohio Valley Conference schools.

EKU (2-7-1, 1-0-0 OVC) will face SIUE on Friday night at 8:00 p.m. ET before closing out the weekend at Eastern Illinois on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The surging Colonels are fresh off a two-win weekend in which they opened conference play with a 1-0 shutout of Jacksonville State on Friday night and then defeated non-conference foe Alabama A&M, 3-2, on Sunday afternoon. Freshman Cassie Smith finished the weekend with four points, finding senior Kristan Paynter for the game-winning goal on Friday before scoring her first-career goal and dishing out an another assist in Sunday's win. Juniors Kaylynn Brown and Whitney Wallace also added goals for the Colonels over the weekend.

SIUE (6-2-3, 0-1-1) features a stingy backline that has allowed only six goals this season and has already recorded five shutouts. The Cougars, however, lost to Tennessee Tech, 1-0, last Friday and played Belmont to a 1-1 draw on Sunday. Kayla Delgado leads the SIUE attack with six goals, while Jennifer Pelley is one of the top goalkeepers on the conference.

EKU is 3-2-1 all-time versus SIUE. The Colonels defeated the Cougars, 2-1, during last year's regular season on a pair of goals by senior Lauren Fant and Hayley Wright. However, SIUE eliminated EKU from the OVC Tournament on penalty kicks later in the fall.

Eastern Illinois (2-9-0, 2-0-0 OVC) was winless before conference play started last weekend. The Panthers then edged Belmont, 1-0, before routing Tennessee Tech, 4-2. Meagan Radloff and Hannah Miller have both notched a pair of goals to lead the EIU offense this season.

EKU is 3-6 all-time against EIU, but defeated the Panthers, 2-1, last year on a pair of second-half goals from Paynter and fellow senior Nikki Donnelly.

Following this weekend's road trip, EKU returns home to host Southeast Missouri (Oct. 11) and defending OVC champion UT Martin (Oct. 13).