Eastern’s women’s soccer team went scoreless over the weekend for the first time this season in its two losses, including its conference opener.

After Eastern’s sweep of last weekend’s matches, the three-match win streak the team was riding came to an abrupt end this weekend. Uncharacteristically, Eastern’s offense did not score in either game; the last time the Panthers did not score in a game before this weekend was Aug. 27 in their 0-2 loss to Milwaukee.

Since that game, the Panthers scored 12 goals in four games, three of which they won. Over that span, the team was able to eclipse the scoring total for last season of 10 goals.

Over the weekend, Eastern had 14 shots in two games, six of which were on goal.

In Eastern’s OVC opener at home Sunday against SIUE, the Cougars controlled the ball for most of the game and did not allow Eastern many chances to score. Two of the best chances for the Panthers came from one of the team’s leading scorers, sophomore forward Sarah DeWolf, who had both of Eastern’s shots on goal in the match.

Both times, once in the first half and once in the second half, DeWolf managed to get the ball within five yards of the goal, and both times, the shot was saved by the goalie.

It was a chippy match against SIUE, with both teams shoving and pushing a lot throughout the match. SIUE scored its first goal in the 29th minute, as one of the Cougars’ leading scorers, MacKenzie Litzsinger, scored off a cross from Becca Jostes.

The Cougars would not score again for awhile, until the 71st minute when Emily Grahl scored. The final goal for SIUE came in the 87th minute after Allison Wendt scored off a Mariah Vollmer cross.

Despite the constant pressure from the Cougars, the Eastern defense held tough throughout the game, and goalkeeper Maddie Lyon made some great saves to keep the Cougar scoring down. The final for Eastern’s conference opener was 3-0 SIUE.

Before Sunday’s match, the Panthers traveled to Indiana to face Marian University.

Marian and Eastern both had eight shots in the game, and Marian had one more shot on goal than Eastern did, five, to Eastern’s four.

Two of Eastern’s other leading scorers, Kate Olson and Hannah Heinz, as well as Kayla Stolfa and Niondina Nystrom, registered the four shots on goal.

The 1-0 victory for Marian came from a penalty kick at the 60:59 mark of the match by Marian’s Courtney Denney.

Eastern is now on a two-match losing streak for the first time this season, with its record at 5-4-1. SIUE is now 4-4-1 on the season and Marian is 5-2 on the season.

From now on, Eastern’s schedule consists of OVC matches only.

Next weekend, the Panthers have two away matches. Friday they will travel to Nashville, Tenn. to face Belmont, and Sunday they will travel to Clarksville, Tenn. to face Austin Peay.

Dillan Schorfheide can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]