Senior hooker Chase Cain and the Eastern rugby team were exhausted.

Cain laid down in the middle of the field in Eastern’s most exciting victory of the season.

The Panthers had to pull off a victory in the final minute of Saturday’s 22-20 nail-biter against Northern Iowa at Lakeside Rugby Field.

The win gives the Panthers their 22nd straight victory and their sixth of the season.

“I just want to let it soak in,” Cain said. “This was completely a team effort. They were good, we were good and the outcome was we just played better.”

In the second half, the Panthers received trys from freshman lock Kelsi Wright and freshman center Lauren Doyle. Doyle’s try tied the game at 17 with less than eight minutes to play. Northern Iowa nailed a penalty kick with four minutes left, and it looked like the Panthers (6-0) were going to be handed their first loss of the season.

That’s when all the seniors came together and pushed their way into the try zone to take the lead with only a minute to play. The four seniors all touched the ball inside of 20 yards with senior wing Crystal Jones while getting the ball in.

“All I saw was that there was a pile of bodies over their (in front of the try zone),” head coach Frank Graziano said. “Then I saw the referee signal go up. I saw Crystal leaping through the air, and she said she touched the ball right on the line. She said ‘had I had to go six inches more or I would have been short.'”

For the first time this season, the Panthers found themselves in unfamiliar territory as they were down 12-0 with less than 12 minutes remaining in the first half.

Before the half came to an end, the Panthers were able to get a try from Jones to bring the score to 12-5.

“I was hoping we were going to be able to get a score right before half so we could make them feel vulnerable,” Graziano said. “They were controlling the game a good bit. We were faster than they were on the wing, and we got a nice score from Crystal right before halftime.”

Although it was a milestone for Graziano, as he was coaching his 100th game at Eastern, he said all the credit goes to the team as they played a great game and earned a hard victory.

“They earned this one with hard work for the last couple of weeks,” Graziano said. “The girls really geared themselves to try and play the hardest team on their schedule to the best of their ability. I hope this one sticks with them a lot.”

The Panthers return to action against Missouri at 11 a.m. Saturday at Lakeside Rugby Field.

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

Freshman center Lauren Doyle makes a break for the goal line as she maneuvers around a Northern Iowa player to earn a try during the game against Northern Iowa on Saturday afternoon at Lakeside Rugby Field.(Audrey Sawyer/The Daily Eastern News)

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