In Saturday’s victory against Iowa State, the Eastern rugby team gave up its first points of the season and first since Oct. 4, 2008, in a 112-3 victory against Ball State.

With the 61-5 win against Iowa State, the Panthers ended their seven-game shutout streak.

Although the Panthers were not happy to lose their shutout streak, they were much more satisfied in losing that streak since they kept a more important one going: A program-best 19 straight victories and a 3-0 record this year.

“Every coach would love to have a shutout, but it’s kind of good that it’s out of the way,” Eastern head coach Frank Graziano said. “We have a great defense, and we made them work hard for that. We made them earn it and they earned it. It is good that the shutouts are gone now, we’re just worried about playing good defense and winning games.”

Graziano said he was happy to see the Panthers did not get too upset with the Cyclones scoring at the beginning of the second half.

They kept their momentum going as they continued to score 29 points after they put up 32 in the first half.

The progress of the Panthers’ defense is surprising considering the Panthers played three freshmen, with two of them starting.

“Ashley (Jenkins) and Lauren (Doyle) are becoming very formidable to get around or get through. They’re starting to understand each other, and I think that’s ahead of schedule,” Graziano said. “(Jenkins) has been playing there, but to have someone new on both sides. Coartney (McKinney) has never played flyhalf before. She’s on one side and a freshman (Doyle) on the other, they’re starting to do pretty well together.”

Making her first start of the season was freshman Kelsi Wright who had two trys and an assist, and also contributed on the defensive side with five tackles.

Wright started for senior No. 8 Stephanie Militello.

With the shutout streak behind them, the Panthers can only look forward as they try to continue to add on to their 19-game winning streak.

“Our team progress at this point of the season is certainly beyond our initial expectations,” Graziano said. “They have done the work and shown great results, but we will continue to push our limits to see just how good we can be.”

Bob Shaughnessy can be reached at

581-7944 or rrshaughnessy@eiu.edu.

Women’s soccer head coach Summer Perala talks with her players during Sunday’s match against University of Wisconsin-Green Bay at Lakeside Field. The Panthers take on Perala’s alma mater, Western Illinois, today at 4 p.m. at Lakeside Field.(Amir Prellberg

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