Issue date: 10/2/09 Section: Sports

Eastern junior flanker Tiffany Kennedy reaches out for the ball during a line out against Wisconsin-Milwaukee Saturday at Lakeside Rugby Field.(Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News)

Senior wing Crystal Jones prepares to tackle a Wisconsin-Milwaukee player.(Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News)

The Eastern rugby team (4-0) will look to continue its 20-game winning streak when it face Minnesota for the first time since 2006 Saturday at 11 a.m. in Minneapolis.

Last time the two squared off the Panthers won in a blowout 77-0, but this time it may not be so easy.

The Golden Gophers had a successful season last year.

They finished 8-4 with two of those losses coming against Iowa State.

Eastern only beat the Cyclones by five points last season. Minnesota also beat Iowa State in one of the three matchups.

The Golden Gophers were dominant at home, outscoring opponents 164-17 when they were on their home turf last season.

The Panthers are not sure what to expect from the Gophers this year, but know Minnesota will be looking for revenge from the loss in 2006.

"Last year was probably the best year they ever had so you have to anticipate that their going to be pretty good," said Eastern head coach Frank Graziano. "But I don't know where they're strong and where they may have some weaknesses. So were going to have to figure that out in the first 10 or 15 minutes of the game."

Eastern survived a tough match last weekend when they defeated Wisconsin-Milwaukee 29-27 with a last-second penalty kick by junior flyhalf Coartney McKinney.

Senior flyhalf Crystal Jones said she expects this to be another tough match.

"It could be a lower scoring game," Jones said. "We are really putting the pieces back together after this (last week's) game. I'm very confident though that we are going to win. What the score is going to be I don't know."

A major aspect Eastern is focusing on this week is getting back to playing solid fundamental defense. Defense is something the team prides itself on.

The Panthers, who shut out their first two opponents, have now given up 32 points in their last two games.

"One of our main concerns is defense, and we are going to have to move some bodies around and we're going to have to compensate for lack of experience in different positions," Jones said.

Bob Shaughnessy can be reached at 581-7944 or rrshaughnessy@eiu.edu.

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