Issue date: 3/12/09 Section: Sports

Eastern head women's soccer coach Summer Perala was hired this past week to take over the program. Perala was an assistant coach at Alabama-Birmingham for the past six seasons and also coached at Western Illinois. (Submitted photo)

The new head coach of the Eastern women's soccer team is confident about the possibility of a quick turnaround.

Summer Perala was hired Tuesday to replace Tim Nowak, who left the program in late January to take an assistant coach job at Arkansas. She thinks a team that went 3-14-2 last season can start competing right away.

"With the girls returning and that are coming in, I think this is a good opportunity to step in and make a run at a conference title right away," she said during a phone interview Wednesday.

Perala is the third head coach in Eastern women's soccer history after spending the past six seasons as an assistant at Alabama-Birmingham.

A 2002 Western Illinois alumna, Perala coached her high school alma mater, Rockford Guilford, in 2003. She is a Rockford native.

Perala is aware of the struggles the Panthers faced last season, specifically on the offensive end of the field where they managed only nine goals the entire season. She said she plans to stress the basics early on in hopes to cure those woes.

"It's probably going to get back to the fundamentals of basic run options in attack and basic shooting technique," she said. "We'll try to get the players more comfortable playing in front of the goal. We'll have some opportunities coming up in the spring games and, hopefully, we'll be able to open up the floodgates."

Like Nowak, Perala is a former goalkeeper with a defensive background. However, she stressed that her coaching mentality will be more well-balanced.

"I plan on having a nice, structured defense, but still be able to bring creativity and flair on offense," she said. "As a coach, you learn to be fluid in how you approach things. One system might not work for a particular game, and you have to adapt."

Perala said she felt really comfortable with the players and administrators she met during her interview process, and her main focus is getting Eastern women's soccer back to the level of perennial conference contender.

"I hope to bring the passion and competitiveness I've seen in Eastern in the past," she said. "I have a desire to get to the top of the conference and bring championships. I'm excited to get there and get working."

Only three seniors graduated from last season's team and 17 letter-winners are expected to return next season. This includes red-shirt freshman defender Sam Balek, who earned Second-Team All-OVC honors and was named to the All-Newcomer squad. Eastern junior midfielder Alexis Miller also returns. Miller earned 2007 OVC All-Tourney Honors. Eastern junior goalkeeper Jenny Williams is also set to return. Williams was named to the 2007 All-OVC Newcomer Team.


Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.

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