Junior flyhalf Coartney McKinney scored on a penalty kick as time expired, giving the Eastern rugby team its 20th straight victory with a 29-27 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee Saturday at Lakeside Rugby Field.

With 40 seconds remaining in the game McKinney received a penalty kick that she was unable to hit. Just seconds later, she received another one that she put right through the uprights to give the Panthers the victory.

The two-point conversion victory marked the second time in the last two seasons McKinney has defeated a Wisconsin team in the final minutes of the game. The last one coming in last year’s season-opener against the Wisconsin All-Stars when the Panthers won 12-10. Eastern head coach Frank Graziano said the Wisconsin All-Stars team is made up of about 75 percent Wisconsin-Milwaukee players.

The victory was by far the closest the Panthers have encountered this season, as they have outscored their previous three opponents by a total 183-5.

“That’s the toughest team we have played and that’s the worst game we have played this season,” McKinney said. “But we did not give up and everyone was supporting each other that is what won us the game.”

Eastern took a 19-10 lead into the half, and after senior center Ashley Jenkins try one minute into the second half it looked as if the Panthers were ready to run away with the game.

But Wisconsin-Milwaukee scored 17 more points in the half and the Panthers were down 27-26 with just under six minutes to play in the game.

Then the game came down to McKinney’s leg.

“I was trying really hard not to be nervous,” McKinney said.

“Had I missed that, I would have felt bad probably for the rest of my life. I tried not to think about that. I just wanted to concentrate on the technique of the kick. After it went through it was probably the best feeling ever.”

Eastern head coach Frank Graziano said he was trying to keep the teams intensity up this week because he was worried about the team coming back down after three strong victories.

“Our intensity was sort of down compared to what it was, but we managed to squeak out a win,” Graziano said.

“We managed to win an ugly one, but we will take it.”

Eastern’s defense held firm for much of the game, including several occasions when Wisconsin-Milwaukee was deep in Eastern territory.

“We were very opportunistic,” Graziano said.

“While we did not have hardly any possession of the ball, we made some very key plays at the times that they made mistakes, and they (UWM) did not make many mistakes. They had 90 percent of the possession we just managed to have a couple of plays.”

Freshman center Lauren Doyle ran in two trys while senior wing Crystal Jones ran in one.

Eastern hits the road next week as it travels to Minneapolis to face Minnesota at 11 a.m. Saturday. Eastern will return home 1 p.m. Oct. 10 to face Northern Iowa.

Bob Shaughnessy can be reached at 581-7944 or rrshaughnessy@eiu.edu.

Junior flanker Tiffany Kennedy goes to tackle a Wisconsin-Milwaukee player during the game on Saturday afternoon at Lakeside Field.(Audrey Sawyer/The Daily Eastern News)

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