Eastern’s women’s soccer team ended its season last Thursday by Tennessee-Martin, as the Skyhawks fought back from a 1-0 halftime deficit to beat the Panthers 2-1 in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

The match was a tale of two halves, as the Panthers were out-shot 5-6 in the first half, but were paced 13-0 in shots in the second half as the Skyhawks controlled the ball and the tempo for the majority of the second half.

The match with Tennessee-Martin also saw the losing goalkeeper, Panther red-shirt sophomore Jessica Taldone (five saves against two goals allowed), make more saves than the winning keeper, Tennessee-Martin’s Mariah Klenke (three saves against one goal allowed).

The only Eastern goal was scored by senior defender Sam Balek, the team’s all-time minutes leader. Balek’s tally was her first career goal in her final match as a Panther.

“It was actually pretty awesome,” Balek said of finally scoring as she held back tears after the match. “(It was a) good time to get a goal before the season’s over.”

Head coach Summer Perala said she was happy for Balek to finally put a ball in the net.

“We’ve been on her all season to use that head for a goal,” joked Perala. “It was a good way for her to go out.”

Balek’s goal came as a result of one of Eastern’s three first-half corner kicks. The Panthers had only one corner kick in the second half whereas Tennessee-Martin had six corner attempts after getting none in the first half of play.

In addition to scoring the lone goal Thursday, Balek paced the Panther offense with two shots, both on goal, as she was the only Panther to take multiple shots.

Eastern was out-fouled in both halves of the match, as they committed six fouls, three in each half, to 11 overall by the Skyhawks.

Only two Panthers played the full 90 minutes against Tennessee-Martin, as Taldone and red-shirt junior defender Ashley Streid were the only Panthers who played the entire game. This stands in contrast to the six Skyhawks who played all 90 minutes.

The loss leaves the Panthers’ overall season record at 5-12-2, including a 4-6-0 record in conference matches and a 4-4 mark at home.

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