Oct. 10, 2004

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University soccer team's five-match winning streak was snapped on Sunday as the Bulldogs dropped a 1-0 decision against the Eastern Illinois Panthers at a wet and rainy Bulldog Field. EIU's Trisha Walter converted on a second-half penalty kick to give the Panthers the victory.

"We gave up the penalty kick there in the second half, but that's a part of soccer," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "I thought that we played really well today and it's frustrating to be on the losing side of things. I think that we had the better of the play out there, but Eastern (Illinois) always makes it very difficult to score and today we weren't able to get on the board."

Samford (5-5-0, 4-1-0 Ohio Valley Conference) suffered its first conference loss of the 2004 season on Sunday and allowed its first goal since a 1-0 defeat against Northwestern on Sept. 10. Despite the loss, the Bulldogs retained sole possession of first place in the OVC standings.

Eastern Illinois (7-4-2, 3-1-1 OVC) remained undefeated against Samford on Sunday and upped its advantage in the all-time series to 2-0-1. With the victory, the Panthers rebounded from their 1-0 loss against Jacksonville State on Friday and remained in second place in the conference.

"Today's match reminded me a lot of last year's OVC championship match against them," Yelton said. "The only difference was that we weren't able to score there at the end and last year we were. Obviously, we just need to regroup from this and get ready to play on Tuesday."

At only 1:31 into the second half, Eastern Illinois earned a corner kick and Rachel Dorfman sent a pass directly in front of Samford's goal intended for a wide open Panther player. The Bulldogs' Heidi Kearns, who was defending on the play, grabbed the aforementioned Panther player and was whistled for intentional holding.

On the infraction, Eastern Illinois was awarded a penalty kick and Walter placed a shot neatly into the lower-right corner of the net for the game-winning goal. Walter, the Panthers' sophomore midfielder from Alton, Ill., currently leads Eastern Illinois with seven goals on the season.

"Even though we gave up a goal today, I thought that our back four defenders were fantastic," said Yelton. "I thought that Sharon (Young) and (Lindsay) Shanks were so good at getting into the attack today that they did a fantastic job. Crystal (Royall) also did a fantastic job of minding the net and she made a couple of great saves."

Samford outshot the Panthers, 13-11, on Sunday, but Eastern Illinois garnered a 7-6 advantage in corner kicks. Both saves (6-6) and fouls (11-11) were even in the match.

The Samford University soccer team will next be in action on Tuesday as the Bulldogs take a break from OVC play to square off against the Lipscomb Lady Bisons on the road in Nashville, Tenn., at 6 p.m.

Eastern Illinois (7-4-2, 3-1-1) def. Samford (5-5-0, 4-1-0), 1-0

EIU 0 1 - 1

SAM 0 0 - 0

Scoring: EIU, Trisha Walter (7) 46:31 (penalty kick).

Saves: SAM, Crystal Royall 6; EIU, Tiffany Groene 3, Team 3.

Yellow Cards: EIU, Sharyne Connell (79:59).