Coming off its first win of the season against the Kentucky Wildcats, the Eastern rugby team has many things to build on for the rest of the season.

The Panthers shut out the Wildcats 61-0, and Eastern coach Frank Graziano said the confidence has improved.

“That can only be accomplished by doing the right things and actually executing the plays and producing a win,” he said. “I think we, as a team, and certainly some girls individually, took a big step forward in the confidence department. That allows me to build from a teaching standpoint during the course of the week.”

Junior Ellen Wilson, who currently leads Eastern in tackles with 63, recorded an assist and her first try of the season in the game against the Wildcats.

The Panthers had four players with double-digit tackles, including newcomer senior Emily Fitzgerald, who recorded 17, and now has 46 on the season.

After the big win against the Wildcats, the Panthers will maintain an even keel for the next game, according to Graziano.

“As quickly as they start to get ahead of themselves in practice, I will pull them back pretty quickly,” he said.

He said his team is going to need a better performance the next game.

Graziano said the girls showed their toughness in the last game.

“I think when we needed to have toughness in there when they kept running it at us, I certainly think we proved we can be tough enough to do all of that,” he said. “We tackled better than I thought we would, so that was a huge plus.”

The Panthers scored 11 tries and recorded eight assists on those tries. Both are season highs for the team.

Also, Eastern recorded 14 runs of more than 20 yards, including freshman Tracey Armstrong who had three.

Sophomore Hannah Vieth currently leads Eastern with 21 points, while red-shirt freshman Miranda Hankins is second with 20.

Graziano said he was impressed with how the women were throwing the ball around the field and that it was the best they have done it all season, despite the wet conditions in Lexington, Ky.

“We were certainly looking to run the ball,” he said. “The ball got very heavy after a while. We were rotating balls in and all of them got really wet. The ball never bounced, because the grass was wet, so we were forced to run.”

Wednesday’s game against Lindenwood has been cancelled.

The Panthers will be looking to add another game on the schedule, Graziano said.

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or rjreynolds@eiu.edu.