Senior Coartney McKinney placed herself on top the EIU record books with her first two-point conversion Sunday afternoon.

McKinney entered the game tied with Jamie Buenzow (2001-05) with 121 conversions. She now holds the record with 124.

With McKinney’s help the Eastern women’s rugby team dominated Minnesota 46-0. The win gives the Panthers (5-1) a 3-0 record against the Gophers.

“I knew it (the record breaking kick) was coming so I choked a little,” McKinney said. “The wind didn’t help but I was glad to get it out of the way so I could focus on the rest of the game.”

Leading the way in tries was sophomore center Lauren Doyle and freshman wing Cara Hahne; each had two tries apiece.

Freshman center Shelby Musselman ran in her first career try and sophomore scrum-half Ashley Aardsma got her second try of the season. Sophomore Kelsi Wright played aggressively, as she had to step up and help fill the shoes of missing starter Stefanie Mahan.

Mahan had a sore back but will return next week against Michigan.

Freshman Jordan Connelly replaced Mahan at the flanker position.

After a loss two weeks ago to Grand Valley State, Eastern has shutout their last to opponents by a combined score of 79-0.

“I never consider a loss a good thing but it definitely was a wake-up call for a lot of people,” McKinney said.

“It was important for everyone to see that we can’t just walk on the field and win.”

The Panthers took a 27-0 lead into the half and continued to keep the pressure on the Minnesota defense while scoring three more times to close out the game.

“We talked about maintaining the intensity,” Head coach Frank Graziano said. “Our first half was very mediocre. 90 percent of our game was there but we just half to put that final 10 percent in to get everything going.”

Eastern will look to get that final 10 percent going as they face two strong opponents in Michigan and UW-Milwaukee in the next two weeks.

The Panthers will play Michigan next week at Lakeside Rugby field and then head to Milwaukee the following week to play, possibly, their toughest opponent.

“They know they have two very hard games coming up so we defiantly need to get it right next week versus Michigan,” Graziano said.

Coach Graziano said there are still a few details they have to work on this week but they will be ready and healthy to play Michigan Sunday at 11 am.

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

Sophomore center Lauren Doyle runs the ball up the field to earn a try against Minnesota Sunday morning at Lakeside Field. The Panthers won 46-0. (Audrey Sawyer

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