Eastern almost waited too long to get back into its game with Indiana State yesterday at Lakeside Field.

The women’s soccer team waited until there was only a little more than six minutes left in the game to tie the score against the Sycamores.

The game remained scoreless through the first half and the first 20 minutes of the second half before Indiana State struck first. The Sycamores scored at the 24:24 mark, when Claire Hemkens was able to sneak a goal past Eastern goalie Lindsay Dechert. Hemkens then moved behind Eastern’s back line and had a shot with only Dechert still defending.

The shot from Hemkens seemed to surprise Dechert as it went straight at her while she was trying to guess which side it was going to. When the shot came right at Dechert, she was able to put two hands on it but still didn’t get enough of the shot to stop the ball from crossing the line.

After that, Eastern finally turned up the intensity as head coach Steve Ballard started to send in some fresh players from the bench. Players such as Terri LaRoche and Lynne Goehler found themselves with opportunities late in the game.

LaRoche was able to capitalize on the opportunity she was given. Finally, with 6:30 left in the game, LaRoche found herself with a little room in the middle of the field and shot high and to the right of Indiana State’s goalie, Carey Patton. The shot found the corner of the goal and tied the score of the game at one apiece.

“I was proud of girls like Terri (LaRoche) and the other girls who came off the bench to really produce for us,” Ballard said. “The play LaRoche scored on was a beautiful play, and she really came through for us.”

Besides the barrage during the time immediately following LaRoche’s goal, when Eastern had four shots in the last six minutes, the Panthers had an inconsistent game overall that disappointed their coach.

“It seemed like there were too many chiefs for us today instead of indians,” Ballard said after the game. “We didn’t work hard throughout the game and that was especially true with our starters who weren’t as intense as our reserve players were today.”

The Panthers controlled the ball well in the first half, but did not put anything on the scoreboard as they wasted some of the chances that the early pressure provided them.

Without scoring a goal in the first half or in the two overtime’s that followed LaRoche’s goal, the Panthers remained stagnant on offense when they had chances to put the game away.

“We were inconsistent as a team today and, for the most part, we haven’t shown that this year,” Ballard said. “Things such as failed traps proved that we did not have the intensity we needed to come out with.

“Usually that kind of stuff is not apparent with our team because they have good attitudes, but today we had a few crybabies. It was a good thing we saw production off the bench today.”