The Eastern women’s soccer team registered a season-high 10 shots in Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Louisiana Tech at Lakeside Field.

Senior forward Meagan Radloff led the way with four shots. She had an assist in Eastern’s only goal of the match. Red-shirt junior Chris Reed, who scored the goal, had two shots, as did junior Briana Hickman.

In the Panthers’ previous three matches, they recorded less than five shots, with four each against Northern Kentucky and Marshall and five against Indiana State.

Eastern head coach Jason Cherry said he was happy to see the team taking more risks offensively and hopes that continues.

“I’m happy we finally got some shots because I think we’ve been holding back, attacking-wise,” he said. “It was good to see them taking some more risks.”

Radloff leads the team with five shots in her first four matches. She finished the 2013 season with 45 total and three in her first four matches, all coming in the team’s season opener against Oakland, which ended in a 5-1 loss.

Radloff’s highest single-match shot performances of 2013 came against Ohio Valley Conference opponents Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky, with five in each of those matches. She had two goals against Tennessee Tech and one against Eastern Kentucky. Eastern won both matches.

Radloff, who led the team in points last year with 15 and goals with seven, had just one assist in 2013. That assist came in Eastern’s final non-conference match of last year against Valparaiso, when Hannah Miller, now a junior, scored in the 78th minute. She currently has the team’s only assist. The Panthers’ assist leader last year was Madison Carter with three.

Eastern scored 15 goals all of last year by a total of seven different players, all of which are still on the team’s roster. Radloff, Miller, Carter and Reed, along with juniors Molly Hawkins and Bianca Navejas and senior Allie Lakie all scored last season.

Entering 2013, Eastern lost its leading 2012 scorer Kristin Germann to graduation, as well as its No. 2 leading scorer Brooke Sill, who transferred to Florida Gulf Coast. Eastern scored 20 goals in 2012 by nine different players. Radloff, Miller, Navejas and Carter still remain of that group.

Reed’s goal against Louisiana Tech on Sunday, Eastern’s first of the year, is an important moment for the team, Cherry said.

“I think for the girls, it knocks down that wall,” he said. “Now, maybe they’ll take a little more risks. It was a great goal.”

Reed said the goal sent the team into halftime in a good mood.

“Everybody, if you saw us at halftime, was laughing, having a great time,” she said. “It’s a really good feeling to not be down at halftime.”

Eastern takes on Missouri-Kansas City at 3 p.m. Friday at Lakeside Field.

Around the OVC

Jacksonville State set an OVC record on Sunday for goals in a single match, hammering Mississippi Valley State 15-0.

The Gamecocks had six different players each score two goals, while three others had one. The 15 goals scored tops the former OVC record of 11 by Austin Peay against Alabama A&M in 2011.

Tennessee-Martin beat Indiana State 3-0 Sunday, marking the first time any Skyhawks team has started the season with three straight wins. The Skyhawks opened their season with a 3-2 overtime win over Saint Louis, followed by a 6-0 win over Bethel.

Tennessee-Martin takes on Evansville on Wednesday, followed by five road matches against Missouri, Tulsa, Oklahoma State, Kennesaw State and Georgia State to close out the non-conference schedule.

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