COLUMBIA, Mo. – A few inches. That’s how close Eastern was to tying the game after it fell behind 1-0 to Missouri in the early minutes of the second half of their first round Women’s College Cup game.

Two Eastern shots clanked off the posts in the second half as the Panthers could not put together any offense in a 1-0 loss, giving them their third consecutive first round exit.

With about 25 minutes left in the second half, senior forward Beth Liesen turned on a ball from about 25 yards out which banged off the middle of the crossbar.

About 10 minutes later, Teri LaRoche had the same poor luck in knocking her header off the right post, which was quickly cleared by the Tigers.

“I love my posts,” Missouri goalkeeper Megan Duncan said with a laugh.

But those same posts were no laughing matter for the Panthers, whose second half efforts fell a little short.

“We hit the crossbar, the post,” Eastern coach Steve Ballard said. “It’s just a tough loss, but we will go on from here. The sun will come up tomorrow.”

Missouri came on the field in the second half motivated to put the first goal on the board. The Tigers applied a lot of quick pressure in the opening minutes and got the first real scoring opportunity of the game and didn’t waste it.

A combination of quick passes in the midfield from Melissa Peabody and Adriene Davis got the ball to Kristen Heil, who beat Panther goalkeeper Tiffany Groene.

Heil received the pass, made a quick move to her left and sent the ball across her body into the right corner of the net for her 10th goal of the season.

“It was an awesome pass,” Heil said. “We were just passing a lot better in the second half, and that created a lot more opportunities for us.”

From there, Eastern had to play catch up and tried everything it could to equal the score. Eastern had many more scoring chances other than the two post incidents, making every last second filled with intensity.

With 11:30 left in the game, the ball bounced Liesen’s way but she couldn’t get over it, sending it over the goal.

About two minutes later, Sharyne Connell thought she had a for-sure goal when she found herself all alone with the ball at her feet and only a few yards away from the goal. But the side referee raised his flag, calling Connell offsides and negating the Panthers’ scoring chance.

“We came as close as we could,” Ballard said. “It was just one of those things. We had three or four chances from about five or six yards out and we couldn’t put them in the corner.”

Ballard was pleased with the way his team played, but said it was just unfortunate the breaks didn’t go Eastern’s way.

“I think both teams played the way they wanted to,” Ballard said. “Missouri got the goal and we didn’t.”

Missouri used possession and quick passes to work their offensive effort while the team made sure to keep Liesen under check as much as possible on the defensive side.

They pretty much had two people on her at all times, not including their center back,” Ballard said. “A couple times she was able to beat a couple, but there was always a third there.”

Missouri coach Bryan Blitz said solid play by Duncan and overall team defending propelled the Tigers into the second round.

Knowing how Liesen was able to score two late goals in the teams’ first meeting in September, he still remained confident in the late pressure situations.

“We’ve been under pressure the last 30 days,” Blitz said. “I think our kids excel in pressure situations.”