Panthers end season with two losses

Dominic Renzetti, Assistant Sports Editor

The Eastern women’s soccer team ended its season with two road losses this weekend. An injury to Emily Hinton, the only remaining goalkeeper on the Panthers’ roster, led to sophomore defender Emily Wolf having to take the reigns in goal.

The Panthers lost 5-0 to Morehead State on Sunday and 1-0 to Eastern Kentucky in overtime on Friday.

Panthers fall 5-0 to Morehead State

The Eastern women’s soccer team was unable to pull a season-finale upset of Morehead State on Sunday as the Eagles cruised to a 5-0 win.

After an injury took goalkeeper Emily Hinton out of the match on Friday, she did not play Sunday against the Eagles, forcing defender Emily Wolf to start in goal.

The Eagles were up 3-0 in the first half, getting started early with a goal from Macy Cobb in the fourth minute. In the 12th minute, an own goal put Eastern down 2-0. The Eagles’ leading scorer, Jade Flory, connected on a header in the 21st minute for her 12th goal of the season. Angela Black was credited with the assist.

In the second half, the Eagles continued the scoring with Elizabeth Tresnak scoring on a header from Caity Fox in the 60th minute. Then in the 76th minute, Kelsey Gomez scored on an assist from Ali Hawksford.

The Panthers had just three shots in the match, recording two in the first half and one in the second half, coming from Allie Lakie, Lauren Rusk and Hannah Miller.

Wolf made eight saves in goal for the Panthers.

The Panthers finish their season with an overall record of 2-15-2 and 1-8-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Eastern will not qualify for the OVC tournament.

Panthers come up short in overtime

Both Eastern and Eastern Kentucky made changes at goalkeeper in the second half Friday in Richmond, Ky., but for Eastern, the change comes with a bigger challenge.

The Colonels beat the Panthers 2-1 in overtime to snap their five-match losing streak when freshman Logan Harvey put one past sophomore Emily Wolf.

Wolf, who usually plays on the defensive end, had to put on a new jersey and suit up in goal for the Panthers in the second half. Midway through the second half, junior goalkeeper Emily Hinton went down with an injury. Though she tried to get up and remain in the match, she was ultimately sidelined.

With goalkeepers Cortney Jerzy and Kylie Morgan both out with injuries, the Panthers do not have another true keeper on the roster. After Morgan went down just before the start of Ohio Valley Conference play, Eastern head coach Jason Cherry said he had began to start training a few field players to step in at goalkeeper if the time came. That time just happened to be now.

The Colonels got on the board early in the first half when Cassie Smith, Eastern Kentucky’s leading scorer, chipped one in off a deflection.

A collision between Eastern Kentucky goalkeeper Ericka Wolfer and Eastern’s Katie Burd in the first half left both players shaken up, though each remained in the match.

For the start of the second half, Eastern Kentucky went with freshman Annie Hall in goal with Wolfer still feeling the effects of the hit.

The Panthers trailed until late in the second half when senior Meagan Radloff scored from 15 yards out to tie the match.

For the second match in a row, the Panthers were headed to overtime and just like last Sunday against Tennessee-Martin, Eastern gave up the game-winner in the final minutes of the overtime period.

Harvey scored her first goal of the season from 20 yards out to give the Colonels the win. Despite the win, the Colonels won’t finish inside the OVC’s top six and won’t be heading to the postseason.

Eastern Kentucky outshot the Panthers 17-13. Harvey led the way for the Colonels with five shots. Radloff had three shots for the Panthers, with senior Madison Carter, red-shirt junior Chris Reed and junior Hannah Miller adding two each.

The match was originally scheduled for a 3 p.m. start, but was moved up to noon as not to conflict with the inauguration of Eastern Kentucky’s new president, Michael T. Benson.

Dominic Renzetti (@Dom_Renzetti) can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].