Eastern freshman center Lauren Doyle intercepted a pass and ran in a try within the first minute of the game. The Panthers appeared to be headed to an easy victory with a 12-0 lead within the first 10 minutes of the game.

While the Eastern rugby team did cruise to a 60-0 win against the Illinois club team Saturday at Lakeside Rugby Field, Eastern head coach Frank Graziano said the Panthers left about 20 points off the scoreboard.

Part of it was the Panthers failing to convert trys in the second half near the try line. And part of the low score, in terms of Eastern’s standards, was Illinois’ defense. The Panthers (8-0) were coming off an 89-3 Homecoming victory against Missouri the week before.

“Our rucking hasn’t been that great all year,” Graziano said. “It does need some improving.”

Illinois was able to get around and tackle Eastern sophomore scrum-half Narissa Ramirez. The scrum-half is the quarterback of the offense.

“I’m glad we could put that pressure (on Ramirez),” said Illinois head coach Jackye Peretz.

When Ramirez was tackled, Eastern’s offense didn’t work as well as it could have.

“Narissa is good at fighting through it,” senior center Ashley Jenkins said. “They were giving her a little bit of trouble.”

But the Panthers still put up 60 points and kept their winning streak alive (24 games).

Doyle and Jenkins led the Panthers with three trys each.

Doyle’s first try came with 39 minutes, 15 seconds left in the first half. Sophomore scrum-half Ashley Aardsma, senior No. 8 Stephanie Militello, Doyle and Jenkins all added trys in the first half as the Panthers took a 38-0 halftime lead.

“(Jenkins and Doyle) had some good runs,” Graziano said. “They’re just starting to get a feel for each other. When (the offense is) looking sharp, those two are right in the middle of it.”

The Panthers scored only four times in the second half.

Aardsma scored a try with 24:10 left in the game, and Jenkins ran in the final try with 24 seconds left in the game.

“We have to be more deliberate, more patient,” Graziano said. “We lost a little poise. We get a little excited sometimes.”

The Panthers lost two or three try attempts near the goal line.

“Sometimes we get close and instead of setting the ruck and passing it out, we try to go the extra yard,” Jenkins said.

Illinois (0-5) pointed toward its strong defense.

“We were able to put up a counter ruck,” Peretz said. “We have really had good try-line defense.”

Eastern junior flyhalf Coartney McKinney was 5-for-10 for two-point conversions.

The shutout was Eastern’s fourth of the season.

Both Militello and senior wing Crystal Jones left the game with injuries.

Graziano is unsure of the severity of the injuries, but said Jones might have tweaked her knee, and Militello bruised her shoulder.

The Panthers return to action against Appalachian State at 10 a.m. Sunday in Boone, N.C.

Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or kjmurphy@eiu.edu.

A University of Illinois player attempts to tackle Eastern’s Stephanie Militello, senior #8, as she runs toward the goal line during Saturday’s game at Lakeside field. Eastern won its 24th consecutive win by beating U of I 60-0.(Karolina Strack/The Daily

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