Western Illinois (2-12-3) scored first Wednesday afternoon against Eastern (11-5-2) but failed to score again, and the Panthers took full advantage of their drought.

Rattling off five straight goals, Eastern buried Western and their 2004 regular season with a final victory that sets the Panthers up well going into the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, which starts on Nov. 2.

“It’s always good to get that win at the end of the season to get some confidence,” Eastern coach Steve Ballard said. “(Western) has struggled this season, recordwise, but still is a team that plays everybody close, and we were able to pick them apart offensively, and that was a good thing to see.”

Western scored the first goal only a few minutes into the game, and then Eastern answered back at the 22nd minute when freshman forward Michelle Steinhaus evened the game at one goal apiece.

Steinhaus also scored the final goal of the game, giving her a total of nine goals for the season.

“Of course these goals give me a boost,” Steinhaus said. “In one sense, we take every game like a scrimmage and try to improve as much as possible. Going into the OVC tournament, it’s nice to play after this high note.”

Junior defender LeeAnne Langsfeld added her first goal of the season, which was assisted by senior Audra Frericks.

Junior Sharyne Connell and sophomore Vicky Garrison also added goals for the Panthers, in what Ballard described as one of the team’s most balanced attacks of the season.

“With our intensity back up from Sunday (a 2-0 loss to Southwest Missouri), this could have been a much more difficult game for us today,” Ballard said. “But we took a team that focuses on defense and really packs things in on the defensive side and were able to stretch them out.”

The Panthers have a bye in the first round of the OVC tournament. Eastern’s first game of the tournament will take place on Nov. 5 at Samford.