The road has not been kind to the Eastern so far this season.

But on Sunday, they managed to pick up a win away from Lakeside Field.

Eastern defeated Jacksonville State, 2-0, on Sunday in Jacksonville, Ala.

It was just their second win on the road, where they have gone 2-4-2 so far this year.

They last won on the road at Indiana State on Aug. 27.

At Jacksonville St., the Panthers (6-6-5, 4-1-4) did not score until the second half until senior midfielder Trisha Walter scored from 20 yards out in the 75th minute.

“We never gave up,” Walter said. “We kept picking ourselves back up”

Walter is 6th on the all-time list for career goals with 19.

“(Trisha’s goal) was really well-played,” said Eastern head coach Tim Nowak.

Eastern tallied another goal when sophomore forward Pam Melinauskas scored from six yards out and it went into the right side of the net within 20 seconds of the first goal.

“We didn’t play great the first half,” Nowak said. “We battled through.”

Junior Kellie Floyd recorded both assists in the game and leads the team with five assists.

“It’s a good win,” Nowak said. “We can win without playing our best.”

This is the first time since the Panthers joined the Ohio Valley Conference in 1998 that they have finished below second place in the standings. This season, they finished in third place, just behind Morehead State.

Nowak said the defense stuck together the whole weekend.

On Friday, Eastern lost 2-1 to Samford in Birmingham, Ala., when Sara Geiger scored on a header with 1 minute, 2 seconds remaining in the second overtime.

Samford first scored in the 18th minute when Heather Birdsell scored and put the Bulldogs up 1-0.

“The players let the moment consume them for a while,” Nowak said.

For their only score of the night, the Panthers were able to capitalize on a corner kick.

Sophomore Jenny Boch took the corner and it landed in the box, bounced around and Michelle Steinhaus shot it into the net in the 34th minute.

“It was a good feeling,” Steinhaus said.

Steinhaus recorded seven of the 12 Panthers’ shots in the game.

She also recorded six of the nine shots on goal.

“Everybody was really upset,” Steinhaus said. “We have to keep our heads up and know that we’re a good team.”

The Panthers prevented Samford from other scoring opportunities.

“(Freshman goalkeeper) Jenny (Williams) made a diving save to left and (freshman defender) AJ (Brewer) cleared the ball as it was crossing the line,” Nowak said.

Brewer said clearing the ball was top highlight of her soccer career.

It was the first time the Panthers lost in overtime all year.

“We had our chances,” Steinhaus said.