The Eastern Illinois women’s rugby team closed out its home season Sunday against Iowa State.

Sunday was Senior Day for the Panthers, as three players would be playing on Lakeside Rugby Field for the final time. Those players were seniors Kristy Young, Courtney McKinney and Emily Harrison.

The Panthers came into the game with an 8-1 record after beating Illinois 96-0. The Cyclones held a record of 4-2-1 after falling to Northern Iowa in their previous game.

The Panthers opened the game by scoring early. Just six minutes into the first half, the Panthers put seven points on the board and jumped out to an early lead.

Just four minutes later, the Panthers still were not done, scoring again to make the score 14-0. Sophomore Lauren Doyle, who leads the team in trys with 24, scored the try.

With 26 minutes to go in the first half, the Panthers scored again, this time freshman Cara Hahne was the one to add the points, making the score 19-0. The score stayed at 19-0 after McKinney missed the conversion when the ball struck the left upright.

The Panthers extended their lead to 24-0 still with 18 minutes to play in the first half.

The scoring would not stop there, as just six minutes later, sophomore Kelsi Wright broke through the Cyclone defense to extend the Panther’s lead to 31-0.

At the start of the second half, the Panthers picked up right where they left off, scoring in the first two minutes of play. Scoring again for the Panthers was sophomore Lauren Doyle. Doyle’s try made the score 38-0.

Doyle scored again with 21 minutes to play in the second half, extending the Panther lead to 43-0.

The final try of the match was scored by redshirt-sophomore Ashley Aardsma. McKinney managed to put one through the uprights to make the final score 55-0, during a windy game.

McKinney said it was very difficult to kick in the wind.

She said she had practiced before the game to see how things would work out, but it was still incredibly difficult to judge, so she just had to try her best.

“We did a really good job, especially on such an emotional day,” McKinney said. “Our goal was to shut them out and we did it. We played hard right to the end and we never gave up.”

The Panthers will play their final game of the season Saturday against Missouri in Columbia, Mo. at 3 p.m.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7944 or [email protected].