UTM’s soccer team will face Eastern Illinois University in the first round of the O’Reilly Auto Parts OVC Tournament. The Skyhawks make a return to the OVC tournament for the first time since 2003.

UTM comes into the tournament as the sixth seed after advancing past Jacksonville State in the OVC tiebreaker, decided by head-to-head regular season matches. The Skyhawks will travel to Charleston, Ill., to face EIU, who comes into the tournament as the third seed.

First-round games are hosted by the higher-seeded team, while teams seeded Nos. 1 and 2 receive a bye in the first round.

This will be the second trip to Charleston, Ill., for the Skyhawks this year. In the regular season matchup, UTM fell 1-0 to the Panthers.

Since that trip early in the season, the Skyhawks have continued to improve and look to be a major threat in the tournament. The Skyhawks’ defense is currently riding a streak of 562 minutes without being scored on and have recorded shutouts in the past five consecutive matches.

The Skyhawks finish conference play with a 2-3-3 record in the OVC and 4-8-4 overall. In the short history of the program, the Skyhawks have advanced to the conference tournament three times.