The Oakland offense exploded in the second half with three goals to cruise to a 5-1 victory over Eastern Friday at Lakeside Field.

The Golden Grizzlies scored early in the eighth minute when senior midfielder Abigail Haelewyn scored from 10 yards out to put Oakland up 1-0.

The Panthers would respond when junior forward Madison Carter would score off a corner kick, assisted by junior defender Allie Lakie.

“(Lakie) doesn’t think it was a good ball, but it actually ended up going right to my foot, and I stuck out and the defender was right there and it just happened to hit and go right in,” Carter said.

Carter had one goal last season for the Panthers. She played 56 minutes against Oakland.

Senior forward Serena Sen Cartier opened the second half with two unassisted goals in the 37th and 65th minute.

Sen Cartier then assisted freshman forward Alice Palmer on her goal just one minute later. Sen Cartier had six shots, four of which were on goal in the match.

Oakland’s final goal came from senior forward Meghan Reynolds in the 71st minute.

Senior goalkeeper Payj O’Shea recorded the win for the Golden Grizzlies, while sophomore Emily Hinton takes the loss for the Panthers.

Interim head coach Jason Cherry said he chose Hinton over red-shirt freshman Kylie Morgan, but will give Morgan the start on Sunday against Northern Illinois.

“They both really pushed, so I’m going to give Kylie Morgan Sunday’s game, and Emily got today’s game,” he said. “So, they’re kind of going to split time.”

Morgan, a transfer from Kentucky, is the younger sister of former Panther Jessie Morgan, who played from 2009-12.

Because of an injury, Morgan did not see any playing time at Kentucky and was granted a medical red-shirt for the 2012 season.

The Panthers were out-shot 30-9, with junior midfielder Meagan Radloff leading the Panthers with three shots. She played 81 minutes. The only player other than Carter to record a shot on goal was red-shirt junior Lauren Hoppensteadt.

Cherry called the match a learning experience for the team.

“I thought the first 45, we played well,” he said. “I mean, Oakland’s a great team. They were very organized and they have a lot more upperclassmen.”

Carter said the team is putting this game behind them and looking towards Sunday’s match with Northern Illinois.

“We have to learn from it, take what we can from it, put it in the past,” she said. “It’s behind us now and just wait for our game on Sunday. We’ll be ready.”

Eastern (0-1) will take on Northern (0-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday in DeKalb.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-2812 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.