Eastern lost an aggressive game to Chicago State 2-1 on Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Field.

EIU was off to an early lead with a goal in the fourth minute by fifth-year forward Zenaya Barnes.

Chicago State came back with two goals after the Panthers’ early lead.

The first goal for the Cougars was scored by Daliisha Spence in the 13th minute, and the other goal was scored in the 74th minute by Gisselle Sahagun.

Despite the tough loss on Senior Day for the Panthers, spirits are still high because the Panthers are starting conference play in the upcoming weeks.

“We did really well play with passion, even if it wasn’t quality soccer,” Barnes said. “We always played with grit and tried to win that second ball back every time we lost; our energy was there today.”

Eastern shot on goal 10 times, compared to the five shots on goal from Chicago State.

Despite that, the Panthers had trouble putting the ball in the back of the net, missing multiple wide-open shots.

The Panthers never gave up and put up a hard-fought game.

Things got tough for Eastern in the 80th minute. Sophomore midfielder Kate Germano received a red card trying to stop a scoring opportunity.

It was an aggressive and hard-fought game with both teams recording 17 fouls combined.

Eastern also won in the possession category by having possession 16% more than Chicago State.

“I just love the fight,” Head Coach Dirk Bennett said. “Soccer is the game of moments and sometimes it can punish you. I felt like we were the better team today. We finished with the last shot on goal. We just didn’t get the moments that mattered the most, like on the scoreboard.”

Eastern won in every category including shots on goal, possession, and corners.

This game against Chicago State concluded their out-of-conference play, and the Panthers now have a break for a week and a half before they resume their in-conference gameplay.

With this loss, the Panthers fell to 1-4-2.

The Panthers will resume gameplay on Thursday, Sept. 21st against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville at Lakeside Field where they will look to add another win to their record.

The game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.