The bench was cheering up and down the sidelines yelling her name.

“Pam, Pam” could be heard across the field.

Sophomore forward Pam Melinauskas entered her first game of the season on Sept. 29 against Southeast Missouri at Lakeside Field.

“I just go out there and do my best. (I) hope for the best,” Melinauskas said.

Melinauskas’ return has made an impact on the team. She scored and recorded two assists in Eastern’s 3-0 win on Oct. 13 over Eastern Kentucky at Lakeside Field.

“I was really happy for her (in her return),” said junior forward Michelle Steinhaus.

Melinauskas was named Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Week.

“It’s a good ego boost for Pam because she had to work pretty hard to come back from her injury,” said Eastern head coach Tim Nowak.

“It was a definitely a team effort,” Melinauskas said.

What kept Melinauskas from playing the non-conference season and a few of the conference games was an ankle injury before the season had started.

“She was so bummed out about being hurt,” Steinhaus said.

Melinauskas worked through her injury through various tasks while preparing to return to action.

“(I worked on) my ankle strength. I did ankle exercises, pumps, heel raises and balancing,” Melinauskas said.

Melinauskas started full practice after six and a half weeks after her injury. Before that she would pass the ball with freshman goalkeeper Jenny Williams and assist the coaches.

Melinauskas is now well rested because of her injury. She didn’t it look at that way from the bench.

She cited some goals, “just to get better. To make sure I was 100 percent. To not let the team down.”

“She’s awesome in the classroom, she’s very vocal and very encouraging and does the same thing when she’s on the field as well,” Steinhaus said.

Melinauskas demonstrates very good leadership qualities on the field as well.

“She’s very positive, she’s motivated to work hard,” Steinhaus said. “She’s someone that’ll push you and be right there with you and make sure you get through things. It’s a good feeling to know you have someone there with you.”

Melinauskas and senior midfielder Trisha Walter set a new Eastern record on Sunday’s 2-0 win against Jacksonville St. They scored 19 seconds apart to break the old record of 27 seconds set by Morgan Frericks and Katie Siwicke in 2002 at Austin Peay.

“It felt good,” Melinauskas said. “It felt like we put a team away that we were able to put away.”

Melinauskas has only played seven games this year, but has started the past five. In those seven games, she has recorded two goals, two assists and nine shots.

The Panthers (6-6-5, 3-1-4 OVC) will need the efforts of Melinauskas heading into the final regular season game at 4 p.m. today in Normal when Eastern plays the Illinois State Redbirds (6-7-3, 2-3-1 Missouri Valley Conference).

“Hopefully this will be a time to fix what we need to fix and figure out what works best for us,” Melinauskas said. “Defensively we’ve been doing really good.” Melinauskas also said they need to work on finishing their opportunities.