Eastern women’s soccer had its season end in the most heartbreaking of fashions last week, falling 2-1 to Tennessee-Martin after going into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

The Panthers came out in the second half after controlling the tempo in the first, and they looked like an unchanged team, which most teams are bound to do when they’re ahead at the break.

Tennessee-Martin, however, made a major adjustment to the Panthers’ style of play, taking control and keeping Eastern on its heels for the vast majority of the half. It was this kind of adjustment that led to Tennessee-Martin going on to win the entire OVC tournament over the weekend.

The Skyhawks’ victory over Eastern was just the first step, and they went on to stomp Eastern Kentucky 4-0 and came from behind to beat Morehead State 2-1 much the same way they beat Eastern en route to a tournament win and a bid in the NCAA tournament.

A loss to the eventual champions may soften the blow, but as far as the Panthers are concerned, they still believe they could have and, by all rights, probably should have won that match with the Skyhawks and advanced to face Eastern Kentucky in the semi-finals.

More than anyone, though, this loss has got to be crushing the team’s seniors. In particular, to have come so close to advancing and overcome so many obstacles throughout their Panther careers, only to see it all slip away in 45 minutes of soccer on a cold, rainy field in Missouri.

Sure, the team will go right back to the drawing board and look at how they can make next year’s team better, faster, stronger, more consistent, etc. But how much can they really do in the way of more preparation and training? Aren’t they already going at full capacity? Don’t they already do as much as they can?

If the answer to that last question is “no,” then why not? If you’re committing yourself to something like a collegiate soccer team, why wouldn’t you commit yourself 110 percent to making it the best you can, on every level?

That only leaves it to the chance that the other teams will lose more than the Panthers in the way of senior contributions, and that they have fewercoming in as far as recruiting classes.

If those things pan out, great. If not, does that mean the Panthers will be looking at another season like this one? Only time will tell.

Brad Kupiec can be reached at 581-7944 or bmkupiec@eiu.edu.