With five seconds remaining in regulation during Sunday’s match at Austin Peay, Panthers’ sophomore goalkeeper Kaylin Lorbert made what head coach Tim Nowak called the “save of her life.”

The save kept the shutout intact, and sent the Panthers to their second scoreless tie of the season, and a 1-0-1 road trip.

The tie against the Lady Govs also moved Eastern into a tie for sixth place in the Ohio Valley Conference with Jacksonville State.

The top six teams in the league qualify for the conference tournament.

The Panthers return home this weekend for their final OVC match, and final home match of the season.

The team has Friday off and will host Southeast Missouri for Senior Day on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Eastern will need a win or a draw coupled with two Jacksonville State losses or a win and a pair of losses by Tennessee Tech to earn a postseason berth. The Gamecocks have a potential tiebreaker advantage against Eastern, but the Panthers hold a similar advantage against Tennessee Tech.

Eastern (2-12-2, 2-4-1 OVC) pulled off a 1-0 double-overtime victory at Tennessee Tech (4-11-1, 3-2-1 OVC) on Friday before Sunday’s tie to Austin Peay.

The tie against Austin Peay (4-10-2, 1-3-2 OVC) made the Panthers 2-0-1 in their last three matches after starting the season 0-12-1.

It was Lorbert’s third consecutive shutout and fourth of the season.

“Kaylin was outstanding for us,” Nowak said. “She’s incredibly focused right now and we’re seeing what we’ve expected out of her all along. She’s showing her ability to make big plays and control the game using her voice to give direction.”

Friday’s victory came thanks to a game-winning goal by junior forward Rachel Hamilton, who scored off of a break away after a free kick pass by red-shirt freshman defender Sam Balek.

“(Balek) nailed the pass right past a couple of defenders and I was making a diagonal run and went into a break away and was able to hit the shot,” Hamilton said. “I was really excited because we had played two halves of overtime and I think we all just wanted to score and get it over with.”

Nowak was pleased with his team’s performance during the weekend, but said he thought his team did not play as well in Sunday’s tie.

“We can feel good about getting two shutouts on the road and playing good defense, but (Sunday’s) game leaves a sour taste in our mouths,” Nowak said. “I don’t think we collectively played particularly well but on the other side we fought hard at preserving the tie and shutout, but it wasn’t a particularly good performance from a soccer standpoint.”

Nowak said he thought Friday’s contest was a good game by the entire team.

“(Friday’s match) was a very gritty, gutty performance,” Nowak said. “The team played good soccer the whole game and kept working hard. It was a great way to start off the weekend.”

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