Spring Break
Women's Soccer: A 'shocking' end to the season
Hoffman scores three goals to down Panthers in quarterfinals
Alex McNamee/Staff Reporter
Issue date: 11/6/09 Section: Sports
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The loss ended the Panthers' season in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinals for the second consecutive season.
Head coach Summer Perala said the offense was on fire throughout the game, as they were doing everything that the coaches had asked of them.
However, the women were still devastated.
"Being heartbroken is quite an understatement," Junior midfielder Sarah Rusk said.
At halftime, the Panthers led in shots 7-2, but without a score.
However, Perala had no doubt that the game was going the right way.
"They were winning battles and playing hard," Perala said. "They were doing everything that we had asked them to do in executing."
Rusk got the Panthers on the board in the 48th minute.
Four minutes later junior forward Kaitlin Sullivan kept it rolling with another goal.
"I think I got the ball at like the half-line off of a throw in," Sullivan said. "I turned it and dribbled all the way down, cut inside, and hit an upper 90."
The goal was an absolute bomb according to Perala, and the bomb gave Eastern a 2-0 lead.
At this point, Sullivan said the team's spirits were riding at a new high.
"I'd say we were very confident and we played out of our minds good," Sullivan said. "I haven't seen us play that well in a very long time, especially in the first half."
Then, in the 60th minute, Tech scored one what Rusk described as a fluke goal, and it shocked the Panthers.
"We didn't apply enough pressure on (Tennessee Tech junior forwardJen Hoffman) and she kind of teed up a shot and (senior goalkeeper) Jenny Williams misjudged it," Perala said.
The same thing happened on the next goal, according to Perala, which was also scored by Hoffman, who had three goals on the game.
"All three of the goals were great shots, and there was nothing that Jenny Williams could've done. Jen Hoffman is a phenomenal player," Sullivan said.
According to Sullivan, the third goal by Hoffman was another fluke that nobody expected.
"I think, it was meant to be a cross and it was a fluke - nobody saw it coming - and before we knew it, the game was over," she said.
Indeed, the game was over, as Tech scored the third goal less than a minute into the second overtime. The Panthers were in disbelief.
"We were really just shocked," Rusk said. "It's kind of unbelievable because we did play very well and it just felt like we had that game under control."
Eastern out-shot Tech 20-11, and Williams only had to face three shots on goal - they all got passed her.
"I don't think that there was a moment where we were over-confident, I just think that they stepped up and started playing at our level and unfortunately they ended up winning," Sullivan said.
Perala said she told the team after the game she had no qualms in telling them she was proud of them because nobody was expecting anything out of them and they proved them all wrong.
With the loss, the Panthers season is over.
They finished with a record of 7-8-5, 3-4-2 in the OVC.
Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944
or admcnamee@eiu.edu.
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