Records take time, even years for them to be broken.  However for junior women’s soccer player Kayla Stolfa, it took her 48 minutes 50 seconds to shatter a 14-year-old record.

Under the hot sun last Sunday at Lakeside Field, Stolfa set a record and now stands alone with the Eastern record for most assists in a women’s soccer game, tallying four assists just 3 minutes 10 seconds over the 45-minute halfway mark.

The record was previously held by five Eastern players, most recently accomplished by Trisha Walter in 2003.

However, Stolfa’s accomplishment is now recognized in the Ohio Valley Conference record books, as Stolfa became the first person since Barbara Tomaszek in 2003 with four assists in a game.

Surprisingly when Stolfa broke the record, she and her teammates had no idea what Stolfa had accomplished.

“Coach Plant told me after the game,” Stolfa said.  “I knew how many I had, I just had no idea what the record was.  I was thinking ‘okay cool, four assists, I’m glad they scored on them.’”

Once Stolfa was told she had broken the Eastern record, she did not make a big deal about it as she casually walked over to the sideline, greeting her teammates and their parents.

“I kind of didn’t realize how big of a deal it was,” Stolfa said.  “I was like ‘oh that’s cool’ and I was just walking off the field because I was planning on saying hi to some of the parents.”

Sadly though, Stolfa’s parents were not able to attend the game as they were away for Labor Day weekend.

Aside from Stolfa and Plant, players on her team and the parents were still unaware of Stolfa’s accomplishment.  It didn’t take too long after the game for the news to spread virally on social media.

At 2:43 Sunday, @EIU_Panthers, tweeted out the breaking news about Stolfa’s performance.  Once the tweet had been made, the congratulations came pouring in for Stolfa.

“No one really knew until it was on Twitter when EIU Panthers tweeted that I had the record breaking assist number,” Stolfa said.  “I did not realize how big of a deal it was until I started getting congratulations from different athletes on different sports teams like softball and men’s soccer.”

Throughout the whole season, the Panthers have been working on finding a balance between their offense and defense.  Last year as a team, the Panthers only scored ten goals whereas so far this year in six games, they have scored 11 goals.

What has been effective this year for the Panthers is how their defenders have been more aggressive, which is Stolfa’s starting position and their main focus during practices three days a week.  Stolfa attributes the technique as to why she was able to have four assists.

“All of our practices have been about breaking pressure out wide and up top,” Stolfa said.  “You did see that a lot with our midfield playing forward.  I was just lucky enough to have a lot of space in front of me and to get the ball.”

With that being said, it’s fairly uncommon for a defender like Stolfa to tally such a high assist total.  For the most part, the midfielders and forwards provide the emphasis on the attack.  Stolfa said with their current tactic, defenders are expected to have assists, but not four.

“I guess it is a little bit unique because you see assists from the midfield or forwards,” Stolfa said.  “With our style of play, we get the outside backs more into the attack so I guess it was expected for defenders to get assists, but even four was a lot.”

In soccer, there are occasions when two players receive assists.  For example, the first goal of the game by freshmen Pilar Barrio had two players recorded for assists: Stolfa and junior Kate Olsen.

For Stolfa, this was the only instance where it happened in Sunday’s game.  The rest of Stolfa’s passes were directly to her teammates who scored shortly after.

Stolfa is going about her accomplishment in a humbled, yet confident manner.

She has been playing soccer for 12 years now and as a junior in college, soccer has become a lifestyle for her.  Even though 12 years of playing a sport is a long time, Stolfa knows the rarity of breaking a record.

“I guess I kind of got lucky Sunday,” Stolfa said.

It’s only fitting how the Eastern women’s soccer record for assists in a game was broken on their home field.  Stolfa said the best part about breaking the record, despite the historical significance, is how she did it at Lakeside Field.

“Yeah it was pretty cool being at home and seeing everyone after the game,” Stolfa said.

Adam Shay can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]