Junior Kayla Stolfa set the Eastern women’s soccer assist record with four as the Panthers defeated Chicago State 5-1 on Sunday following their 3-2 overtime loss Friday.

Prior to Sunday’s game, five different players in Eastern history have recorded three assists in a single.  The most recent three-assist game came in 2003, accomplished by Trisha Walter.

“I had no idea I was anywhere near setting a record,” Stolfa said.  “I found out as I was walking off the field, my coach asked me if I knew I set a record and I was shocked.”

The Panthers have been working on breaking pressure during practices, which is what helped the Panthers beat Chicago State handedly, Stolfa said.

“I think we’ve been working a lot in practice on breaking pressure out wide and I think we did a good job of exploiting the space that Chicago State left open,” Stolfa said.  “This is what created a lot of opportunities for us on the offensive side of the game.”

Stolfa tied the record for most assists in a game among Ohio Valley Conference players; accomplished in 2003 by Barbara Tomaszek from Tennessee Tech.

For the rest of the Panthers, sophomore Hannah Heinz led the way with two goals whereas sophomore Henar Urteaga and freshmen Niondina Nystrom and Pilar Barrio each scored a goal.

The Panthers as a team had 16 shots on goal compared to Chicago State’s four, a 12-shot increase from Friday’s game.

Assistant coach Jake Plant said the girls are playing well so far this season and how the key to the Panthers’ success is through sustainability.

“We ask the girls to be consistent in their play so that it can be sustained throughout the season,” Plant said.  “The good thing about today is that the girls are starting to get used to it and are playing very well.”

In Eastern’s loss on Friday, Valparaiso scored with 1:15 left in the match, sending the game into overtime where they scored again 39 seconds later.  Stolfa said the Panther’s mentality after a loss is to bounce back and try to win.

“Things didn’t go our way in that game, even though we fought the entire time,” Stolfa said.  “One of our goals is to come off a loss with a win.  I think we all had that in our heads against Chicago State.”

Chemistry and communication have been some of the Panthers’ struggles this year so far, however senior Madi Fisher said the team improved their communication compared to Friday’s loss.

“Our communication on the field was a lot better,” Fisher said.  “We worked out the small kinks we had on Friday.  We work on zonal defense and everybody getting up at the same time.”

The Panthers return to Lakeside field at 3 p.m. Friday to play the 0-5 Fort Wayne Mastodons.

Adam Shay can be reached at 581-2812 or acshay@eiu.edu