It only took 37 seconds Eastern women’s soccer to score the opening goal against Indiana State.

Sophomore forward Alex Tetteh created the chance by sprinting up the right wing and pulled back her cross to find senior midfielder Ella Onstott in space in the box.

Onstott chipped her shot and looped it over the goalkeeper to score her first goal of the season and record Tetteh’s first assist of the season.

The lead didn’t hold, however, as Eastern conceded an equalizer to the Sycamores (2-3-2) in the 80th minute, and the game ended as a 1-1 draw Thursday afternoon at Lakeside Field.
“It’s a mentality thing, just making sure were focused” said head coach Dirk Bennett. “Knowing our responsibility, it’s a privilege to play in a game at all.”

The Panthers (2-4-1) kept the lead for the next 79 until Sycamore sophomore forward Alex Lehnert took a shot that found the bottom right corner of the net.

“It’s still a bright game for us,” Bennett said. “I think we started really well. I thought the girls were excellent. At some point in there it was going downhill fast, and we couldn’t get subs on to solve it.”

Eastern has put itself in a winning position in four of its last five games but only has two wins in that span. This marks the second game in a row where the Panthers had a 1-0 lead at halftime and didn’t win the game. On Sunday, Eastern led Northern Illinois 1-0 for 80 minutes before conceding two goals in the final 10 minutes to lose 2-1.“They have to learn to not just drop all the way to the goal line.” Bennett said regarding the team’s defending late in games. “I told the team that they are showing a little bit of fear.”

This is the fourth time in four years that a game between the Panthers and Sycamores finished in a draw.

Eastern led possession for 53 percent of the game compared to Indiana State’s 47 percent. Indiana State did shoot more, with the Sycamores tallying 15 total shots over the course of the game compared to Eastern’s seven.

Both teams hit the target with four of their shots.

“We’re just gonna watch some film back figure out what we got do to win in the second half” said Onstott. “Just put are heads down and get to work”

The game was the final non-conference home game for the Panthers. Eastern has two more non-conference games on the road before Ohio Valley Conference play begins on Sept. 21 against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

The Panthers will travel to Purdue Fort Wayne on Sunday and play its final non-conference game next week against Illinois State.

Kickoff for Sunday’s game is set for 3 p.m.

Emerson Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].