A new enemy popped up for the women’s soccer team to deal with during their game against Bowling Green; the cross bar.

Opportunities were available all game against the Falcons as the Panthers put up 20 shots, a couple of which caught the top cross bar causing some near misses and possible heart problems for head coach Steve Ballard.

At least two shots just missed finding the back of the net as they grazed the cross bar and wound up bouncing back into the field of play or out of bounds. Numerous other shots either went high or just missed from side-to-side, a sign that Eastern was controlling the game and also getting shots off.

The game ended with a 2-0 Eastern lead, but it could have been more and the fact that the final score wasn’t quite as comfortable is something that concerns Ballard.

“That was pretty amazing, all those chances that just missed,” Ballard said. “But we do need to work on our finishing, when we have that many chances we do need to capitalize and score a few more goals.”

On the first goal of the game, sophomore forward Trisha Walter took advantage of the opportunity she was given and put Eastern ahead. The goal was assisted by junior defender Lee Anne Langsfeld.

“What we really did well today was create different opportunities from different angles,” Ballard said. “That led to our chances offensively and a few of our girls really took advantage of that; I just wish we could have made a little more out of it.”

Ballard’s team dominated throughout most of the game considering, in his estimation, the Panthers controlled about 60-70 percent of the game on their offensive side of the field.

The team did not start any of the freshmen, but many of the younger players did see action as the coaching staff is still trying to figure out what the regular rotation will be throughout the year.

For Sunday’s game against Bowling Green, Ballard had junior Sharyne Connell splitting time at midfield and forward, and plenty of the players off the bench were given the chance to play and make their mark on the game.

“This team can go 20 deep even though it is still a bit of a puzzle as to who will be locking up their roles with the team,” Ballard said. “But overall I am pleased with the depth of the team, but we do need to work on the fine things for the team to play at the level we all hope to.”

One of the players who did come off the bench and made an impact was freshmen forward Michelle Steinhaus. Early in the second half, Steinhaus scored her second goal of the season o insure the Panther victory. Assisting on the play was junior defender Lindsey Holcomb.

“Michelle (Steinhaus) has been a tremendous addition to the team,” Ballard said. “She is a complete ball player, has a good head for the game, and she is only going to get better. She reminds me a little bit of a young Beth Liesen.”

Another facet of the game that was interesting for the Panthers was the fact that they played Sunday afternoon after coming home from Nebraska at 6 a.m. the previous morning. But the long ride and the 4-0 loss to Nebraska didn’t hold the team back against Bowling Green.

The Friday game against Nebraska was the Panthers’ second straight game in which they had remained scoreless throughout. Previously they were shutout by the second-ranked team in the nation, Notre Dame.

Against the Corn Huskers, the Panthers were stifled offensively and also gave up four goals to the Big XII team.

“It has almost seemed like one big day instead of an entire weekend,” junior defender Morgan Frericks said. “But the goal for us, as a team, was to prove to ourselves that those games (versus Notre Dame and Nebraska) don’t reflect who we really are.

“There should not be any excuses for this team, and we answered some questions today even though we could have dominated a little more.”

Friday the Panthers play DePaul at Lakeside Field.