Players earn All-OVC honors
The Eastern women’s soccer team found itself in a very unfamiliar place in November: on the outside looking in. The Panthers missed the Ohio Valley Conference post-season tournament for the first time in 14 years, and for the first time in head coach Summer Perala’s career as Eastern head coach.
The Panthers opened their season with two losses to Big Ten conference teams, falling 5-0 to Iowa on the road, then coming up short against Purdue, where they lost 2-1 in overtime.
The match against Purdue was the first of three straight overtime matches the Panthers would see, as they next lost to Northern Iowa in their home opener by a score of 2-1, before finally notching the first win of the season against Cleveland State, led by a hat trick by senior Kristin Germann.
Following a loss to Indiana State, the Panthers took down non-conference foe Evansville, but their luck ran thin, as the team lost its next five matches.
The team got back on track in its second OVC match of the season, beating Tennessee Tech in overtime. For the remaineder of the season, the Panthers traded wins and losses, pushing past Southeast Missouri, Murray State and Belmont, but losing to Tennessee-Martin, Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky. The only draw of the season came against Morehead State, where the two teams played to a 1-1 tie.
The Panthers finished the season with an overall record of 6-12-1, finishing in seventh place in the OVC with a conference record of 4-5-1.
Germann led the team in goals (8), points (17), shots (46), shots on goal (24), game-winning goals (2) and penalty kicks (2). Senior Ashley Streid and sophomore Allie Lakie each had three assists.
Red-shirt junior Jessica Taldone saw the most minutes of any Eastern goalie, totaling 1,288:13. She made 85 saves, while allowing 27 goals.
Germann, Streid and freshman Hannah Miller all earned All-OVC honors. Germann and Streid were named to the second team, while Miller was named to the newcomers team.
Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].