The Eastern women’s soccer team opened Ohio Valley Conference play with two losses to Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville during the weekend.

Despite strong words from Eastern head coach Jason Cherry following Friday’s loss against Southeast Missouri, the Panthers fell 3-1 to the Cougars on Sunday in Edwardsville.

The Panthers and Cougars were tied at 1-1 going into halftime following a goal from Southern Illinois-Edwardsville’s Mariah Vollmer just 1:20 into the match. Senior Madison Carter scored the responding goal for the Panthers in the 18th minute. Fellow senior Meagan Radloff supplied the assist.

The Cougars jumped back on top in 49th minute with a goal from Michelle Auer and then added an insurance goal in the 83th minute from Kayla Delgado.

With the loss, the Panthers fall to 1-9-1 and 0-2 in the OVC. Eastern takes on Belmont and Austin Peay this Friday and Sunday. Both matches are at Lakeside Field.

Panthers fall to Southeast Missouri

Southeast Missouri’s Natasha Minor scored twice in the first half, helping lead the Redhawks to a 4-0 victory over Eastern in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both women’s soccer teams Friday at Lakeside Field.

Minor scored the first two goals of the match for Southeast Missouri in the 11th and 25th minute to give the Redhawks an early lead. Christina Rhode added a third in the 32nd minute and Taylor Byrd put in the only goal of the second half to secure the 4-0 win.

“Of course, not the way we want to start,” Cherry said. “I think with us, we gotta refocus and pay attention to details. We were prepared for the game, but we didn’t execute our plan and stick to it and those little small details killed us today and that’s why we lost the game.”

Radloff led Eastern with three shots and two on goal. Radloff said the Panthers are putting the loss behind them.

“We’re just keeping our head high,” she said. “Last year we lost to them with the same score and we still did really well in conference, so we’re kind of taking it as we’re just gonna put this one behind us.”

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