Eastern women’s soccer senior Molly Hawkins scored her third and fourth goals of the season in the Panthers 3-1 win over Indiana State Friday afternoon at Lakeside Field.

Sophomore Ali Carlson played a ball into the box for Hawkins, and she was able to put it past Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne red-shirt sophomore goalkeeper Kylie Dunning to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead just under four minutes out of the break.

Senior Hannah Miller scored her first goal of the season just about eight minutes later off an assist from Hawkins and sophomore Carrie Caplin to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.

Hawkins added her second goal of the game just three minutes later off a pass from senior Bianca Navejas.

The 3-0 lead the Panthers had was the biggest lead they have had all season, and Eastern coach Jason Cherry said his team came out differently to start the half.

“We came out with a different mentality,” he said. “It was a more aggressive mentality. We kept the ball and looked to do quick combinations. I think it really worked. We tried to pressure their backs’ to see how fit they were.”

Coming out of the break, Hawkins said her team had a good halftime talk which abled them to come out with quick momentum.

“We needed to do something to pass around them and make them run,” she said. “We just figured it out as a team that we need to make those small passes.”

Eastern forced Dunning out of the game at the 66:49 mark of the second half, and she was replaced by freshman Haley Lydon, who played the final 23 minutes and did not allow a goal.

Panther freshman goalkeeper Maddie Lyon was able to get her first win of her Eastern career after saving 6-of-7 IPFW shots in 90 minutes of action.

IPFW was able to score their first goal at the 79:26 mark of the game after senior Brook Bishir put the pass from senior Rachel Good behind Lyon.

IPFW fell to 0-5 on the season.

Eastern had 17 shots in the game, 10 of which were on goal.

Panthers fall to Sycamores Sunday

In the second game of the weekend for Eastern, the Panthers were shutout by Indiana State 1-0 on Sunday.

The Sycamores scored their first and lone goal of the game at the 8:18 minute mark of the first half by junior Maddie Orf, which was assisted by senior Kate Johnson.

Indiana State outshot the Panthers 13-9, but Eastern was only credited with one shot on goal. Indiana State was credited with four shots on goal.

Lyon saved three shots in the game, while Miller had the lone shot on goal for the Panthers.

Eastern now has 1-4-1 records on the season and will face Bowling Green Friday at Lakeside field at 1 p.m.

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