Easterns women’s soccer team battled against Morehead State Saturday evening in the semi-finals of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

The Panthers were fresh off an opening round tournament victory over Eastern Kentucky that extended their win streak to six games.

Eastern head coach Summer Perala’s team had to play Morehead State on its home field.

The Panthers and the Eagles matched each other every step of the way in the first half as they went into the halftime with a 0-0 score.

The Eagles grabbed control of the game in the second half as Sam Toepfer scored on an unassisted break away just 46 seconds into the second half.

Panthers evened the score in the 85th minute; senior midfielder Sarah Rusk provided the offensive spark for the Panthers when she found the back of the net.

“I cleared the ball out and I sent it over their defensive line and Sarah ran through and chipped it over the goalie,” said junior defender Erika Prazma.

The Panthers had their eyes on taking the game into overtime, but misfortune struck the Panthers for the final time in 2010, as an own goal ended their season just a minute after scoring the equalizing goal.

The Eagles ended the Panthers championship hopes as they were defeated by a score of 2-1. Morehead State out-shot the Panthers as they fired 16 shots compared to just six for Eastern Illinois.

“I think it was one of the most competitive games we played all season. I thought both teams put up a good fight, but unfortunately we didn’t put points up on the board,” Prazma said.

The Panthers posted a sub .500 record of 7-9-5 in 2010. They also posted a 3-1-3 record in their final seven games that propelled them into the OVC Tournament.

“We’ve definitely progressed from the past few years and hopefully next year we can make a championship appearance,” Prazma said.

Four Panthers gathered post-season awards as senior goalkeeper Kaylin Lorbert led the way being named to the Ohio Valley Conference first-team.

Senior forward Kaitlin Sullivan and junior midfielder Ashley Eck were second team selections. Freshmen defenseman Caitlin Greene rounded out the list as she was named to the All-Newcomer team.

Two Panthers gathered All-OVC Tournament honors.

Sophomore forward Kristin Germann and senior midfielder Sarah Rusk were both selected to the All-Tournament squad.

Morehead State protected their home field and defeated Austin Peay 2-1 in the OVC Championship game.

Jordan Pottorff can be reached at 581-7944 or at jbpottorff@eiu.edu.

Kaitlin Sullivan, a senior midfielder, takes the ball up field Oct. 24 at Lakeside Field. (Audrey Sawyer

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