Issue date: 10/28/09 Section: Sports

Freshman midfielder Jessie Morgan tries to get the ball past a Jacksonville State player during the game on Oct. 18 at Lakeside Field. (Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News)

The Panthers defeated Eastern Kentucky 1-0 Friday, although no conventional goals were scored the entire game.

Sophomore defender Hillary Blake came close to scoring her first career goal in the 32nd minute, however the goalie controlled her shot - only for a second.

As goalkeeper Stephanie Lynch came to the ground, she fumbled the ball into the net.

The fumble by Lynch gave the Panthers an own-goal.

Sept. 12, 2004, was the last time Eastern was given the gift of an own goal that turned out to be the game winner.

On that date, Eastern was tied with Indiana State 1-1 when the Sycamores surrendered an own goal in the 86th minute to give Eastern a 2-1 lead.

Three minutes later, the Panthers scored again.

Eastern has never won a game in which the only score was an own-goal in their favor, in its program's history.

In fact, there hasn't been a game when the own goal was the only score for either team.

Offense takes step back
In losing the shot count to EKU 15-3 on Friday, Eastern experienced its worst margin of shots since Sept. 27 against Southeast Missouri.

In the game, the Panthers were out-shot 27-4, but managed to come out of the game with a 1-1 tie.

In Friday's game, they were out-shot but actually won, 1-0.

Head coach Summer Perala acknowledged the step back by saying the team wasn't quite as sharp as they had been the past few games.

However, following Sunday's loss to Morehead State, Perala was pleased to note that the women had learned from how they played in Friday's match and improved despite the loss.

Around the OVC
Eastern (7-6-5, 3-2-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference) clinched a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with its 1-0 win over Eastern Kentucky on Friday. This season's tournament will be the Panthers' 11th straight.

Also clinching post-season positions were Tennessee Martin, Tennessee Tech and Murray State.

Morehead State (8-6-4, 5-0-3 OVC) defeated Eastern Sunday to clinch at least a share of the regular season conference title.

Eastern Kentucky, UT Martin, Jacksonville State and Murray State all recorded wins over the weekend. SEMO tied top-ranked Morehead State 1-1 on Friday.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944 or admcnamee@eiu.edu.

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