The Eastern Illinois Panthers men's soccer team represents Eastern Illinois University (EIU) as a member of the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. The Panthers play their home matches at Lakeside Soccer Field located directly south of the

Lantz Arena Lantz Arena is a 5,400-seat multi-purpose arena in Charleston, Illinois. It is home to the Eastern Illinois University (EIU) Panthers men's and women's basketball teams and to the women's volleyball team. Completed in 1967, the Lantz Arena Complex ...

complex on the EIU campus in

Charleston, Illinois Charleston is a city in, and the county seat of, Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,286, as of the 2020 census. The city is home to Eastern Illinois University and has close ties with its neighbor, Mattoon. Both are p ...

Conference membership

Eastern Illinois is currently a full member of the

(OVC), which did not sponsor men's soccer until the 2023 season. Before the OVC launched its men's soccer league, EIU was an associate member of the

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States from Illinois on the East of the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Nebraska on the W ...

for men's soccer, and remains an associate of that conference in men's and women's swimming & diving. In 1982, EIU was one of the eight charter members of the Association of Mid-Continent Universities (AMCU) which changed its name to the Mid-Continent Conference (Mid-Con) in 1989 and became the Summit League in 2007. The Panthers played soccer in the AMCU/Mid-Con until leaving for membership in the OVC in 1996. Upon joining the OVC, EIU also became an affiliate member of the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

(MVC) for men's soccer. The Panthers swimming & diving teams had returned to the Mid-Con in 1996; in 2011, EIU cut its membership to only two conferences as the men's soccer team returned to what is now the Summit League. In March 2023, the OVC announced that it would start a men's soccer league in the 2023 season, allowing EIU to align men's soccer with the bulk of its other sports,

Season results

References:

Retired numbers

;Notes

Notable former athletes

Mike Novotny Michael Novotny (born March 17, 1996) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Chicago House AC in the National Independent Soccer Association. Career College Novotny played four years of college soccer at Eastern ...

Goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Chicago House AC Chicago House Athletic Club is an American professional men's soccer club owned by Laurence Girard and led by CEO Peter Wilt. The club is based in Chicago, Illinois. They began play in August 2021, competing in the National Independent Soccer ...

Schellas Hyndman Schellas Hyndman (born November 4, 1951) is a retired soccer coach. He was previously head coach of FC Dallas in Major League Soccer. Despite having a limited career as a professional athlete, Hyndman is one of the most successful college socc ...

, former head coach of soccer's

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

Matt Bobo Matthew "Matt" Bobo (born January 6, 1977 in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American soccer player who last played for Carolina RailHawks in the North American Soccer League. Career College and Amateur Bobo attended the University of Wisconsin– ...

, former

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

player *

John Baretta John Baretta (born May 6, 1955) is a Canadian retired soccer goalkeeper who played in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League and American Soccer League. Baretta attended Eastern Illinois University where he was a 1978 ...

, former

goalkeeper * George Gorleku, former

Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–92) Major Indoor Soccer League has been the name of three different American professional indoor soccer leagues: *Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992), known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League *Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2 ...

player * LeBaron Hollimon, former

National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) The National Professional Soccer League was a professional indoor soccer league in the US and Canada. It was originally called the American Indoor Soccer Association. History In November 1983, a Kalamazoo, Michigan-based group called Soccer Le ...

player *

Damien Kelly Damien Kelly is an Irish retired American soccer forward who played professionally in the United Soccer League, American Indoor Soccer Association and Southwest Independent Soccer League. Youth Kelly attended Eastern Illinois University where ...

, former

player * Mark Simpson, former goalkeeper and assistant coach for

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

* Jason Thompson, former player for

Glen Tourville Glen Tourville is a retired American soccer player and former coach. Player Tourville attended the Eastern Illinois University where he played on the men's soccer team in 1978 and 1979. In 1979, the Panthers went to the NCAA Men's Division II ...

, former

player

References

External links

* {{Ohio Valley Conference men's soccer navbox

Conference membership

Season results

Retired numbers

Notable former athletes

See also

References

External links