Nov. 5, 2005

CHARLESTON, Ill. - For the third-consecutive season, the Samford University soccer team will square off against the Eastern Illinois Panthers in the championship game of the 2005 O'Reilly Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Sunday. The contest starts at noon and will be televised to a national audience on ESPNU.

The winner earns an automatic berth in the 2005 NCAA College Cup, which begins on Friday.

"I think that over the last few years, Samford and Eastern Illinois have been the two dominant teams in the conference," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "To be honest with you, Eastern Illinois has been very successful against us and we have a big challenge ahead of us tomorrow, especially playing here at their place."

Samford (14-3-3) heads into Sunday's championship game riding the positive momentum of a seven-match undefeated streak. The contest will be held at Eastern Illinois' Lakeside Field in Charleston, Ill.

On Friday, the top-seeded Bulldogs advanced past the fourth-seed Murray State in a penalty-kick shootout. The teams played 110 minutes of scoreless soccer before Samford outscored the Racers, 4-3, in the shootout.

The Bulldogs' Rebecca Bohler, Sara Geiger, Shay Helmbock and Devon Paris all scored on penalty kicks in the shootout. Samford's freshman goalkeeper Cayley Winters made the game-winning save on Murray State's final attempt from Laura Oppegard.

"We have a lot of positive momentum as a team right now," Yelton said. "Our players are excited about having the opportunity to compete for a tournament championship and I think that we are playing with a lot of confidence right now."

Eastern Illinois (9-9-2) enters Sunday's matchup looking to win its fifth-straight OVC Tournament.

The Panthers have played in the tournament's title game every season since 1999 and have advanced to the NCAA College Cup every year since 2001. In each of the previous two seasons, Samford and Eastern Illinois have faced off in the final game of the OVC Tournament.

Two years ago, the Panthers advanced past Samford via penalty kicks in the championship game. Last season, Eastern Illinois scored twice in the final two minutes of play to upend Samford, 3-2, at Bulldog Field.

"Heading into this season, we'd never beaten Eastern Illinois," said Yelton. "The closest we'd gotten was a draw, but then they advanced past us in penalty kicks. I think that beating them earlier this season was extremely important for us from a confidence standpoint. That win really helped the resurgence of our season."

On Oct. 14, Samford picked up its first-ever victory against Eastern Illinois as the Bulldogs posted a key 1-0 win at Lakeside Field. True freshman Lauren Faubion scored the game's lone goal in Samford's victory.

Since defeating Eastern Illinois earlier this season, the Bulldogs have not lost a match. Samford owns a 6-0-1 overall record in its previous seven games, while the Panthers are 3-1-1 since losing to the Bulldogs.

Eastern Illinois, the No. 2 seed in this year's OVC Tournament, defeated the third-seeded Southeast Missouri Redhawks, 1-0, in Friday's semifinal contest.

"Eastern Illinois is a very good team," Yelton said. "They are very difficult from a defensive standpoint and Lee Ann Langsfeld, Morgan Frericks and Tiffany Groene are all seniors and are battle tested. They also have Sharyne Connell who is one of the toughest players in the conference. It's going to be one of those games that will be a battle."

The Samford University soccer team will attempt to make school history on Sunday as the Bulldogs play for their first-ever automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Samford and OVC Tournament-host Eastern Illinois will square off at noon in the championship game of the six-team competition.

The contest will be televised live by ESPNU in Charleston, Ill.