As the final gun went off Saturday afternoon in Indiana, 27 young ladies placed their names in Eastern sports history. An 81-0 victory over the Ball State Cardinals capped off a remarkable season that saw Panthers rugby go a perfect 11-0.

“This was the best team I have ever been involved with,” head coach Frank Graziano said.

The 11-0 record was quite a turnaround from last year, when the Panthers went a disappointing 3-4. Not even Graziano could have dreamt up this magical season.

No coach thinks they’ll win all of their games, Graziano said.

But the Panthers did, and Graziano credits the amazing season on an Oct. 5 meeting with the Arkansas Razorbacks.

“The game against Arkansas was a turning point for us,” Graziano said. “The team was very disappointed that week because the Ohio State game was cancelled and we were really looking forward to playing them. We played great against Arkansas, and then it seemed like we were on cruise control the rest of the way.”

The Ohio State game was originally scheduled for September 27, but poor field conditions in Columbus, Ohio, forced the game to be cancelled.

“Not playing against Ohio State was a bad memory for us,” Graziano said.

However, the Panthers did not bring that bad memory to Arkansas. Eastern shut out the Razorbacks 42-0 and improved to 5-0 on the year.

“After we beat Arkansas on the road, I sat down with the coaches to discuss the team,” Graziano said. “The coaches talked about the possibility of running the table but we didn’t focus on it. We (the coaching staff) watched game tape and tried to find ways to make everyone a little better in the last month.”

After the trip to Arkansas, the Panthers won their next six games by a combined score 491-0. They posted scores of 110 and 108 on Kansas and Vanderbilt respectively.

“We’re that good,” Graziano said, referring to scoring in the triple digits. “We are playing against club teams but it (high scores) is a tribute to how fast we come out of the gate. When you score in the first few minutes it really stays in your opponents mind. Rugby is a fun sport to play when you’re on the front end, but not the back end.”

Despite the Panthers perfect record and eye-opening scores, their season ended on Saturday. Eastern’s rugby team is independent so they belong to no conference and do not participate in any post-season tournaments. Graziano was not at all disappointed by the lack of a post-season.

“No, there is not a tournament,” Graziano said. “It’s difficult to end the season but we’re not disappointed. The team has no regrets.”

There is a national rugby tournament in the spring, but Eastern will not compete in it. Graziano cites December graduates and the cold weather as reasons why his team shuts down in November.

“It’s pretty tough to play rugby in December and January to prepare for a spring tournament,” Graziano said. “Plus we lose girls to graduation and for the remaining players, sometimes it’s best if they get away from the sport for a few months. This will give them time to heal and prepare for next year.”

Although Graziano is content with the season ending last Saturday, one thing he wouldn’t mind is for the Ohio Valley Conference to introduce a rugby league.

“If I was to get a call from (Director of Athletics) Dr. McDuffie telling me that rugby was the next OVC (sport), that would be great,” Graziano said.

For the time being, Graziano will have to settle on his perfect season and the difference a year can make.

“Last season we had so many injuries,” Graziano said. “We had a lot of freshmen playing out of position and we only managed to win a few games.”

The big difference for the Panthers came in the spring when they introduced a new playbook and system.

“It’s not a magical system, but it works,” Graziano said. “The players bought into the system and it worked.”

Among Easterns’ 11 wins were victories over schools from prestigious conferences like the Big 10, ACC, SEC, MAC and Big XII. The Panthers outscored their opponents 683-12. Only Southern Illinois was able to put up points on the Panthers.