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CHARLESTON, Ill. – The final 15 minutes featured four shots on goal and a shot off the crossbar, but Eastern Illinois and Drake settled for a 90-minute scoreless draw in women's soccer exhibition action Monday afternoon at Lakeside Field.
Both teams open their regular-season schedules Friday and the head coaches opted not to extend the friendly into overtime. The Panthers host IUPUI Friday at 4 p.m. and Evansville Sunday at 1 p.m.
Ellen Campbell nearly gave EIU the lead in the 84th minute when she hit the crossbar with a lofted shot from the inside edge of the 18-yard box. The ball deflected off the bar just to the left of the right angle formed by the crossbar and right post.
Twenty-one of the 23 Panthers on the roster saw action, including all three goalkeepers. Kaylin Lorbert started and made two saves in the first half. Jessica Taldone took over at halftime and made the top EIU save of the game. Brittany O'Dell played the final five and a half minutes.
Taldone punched a shot by Britany Schuling over the top of the crossbar in the 74th minute. The rising blast would have found its way into the net just below the crossbar if not for Taldone deflecting it away. She finished with three saves and O'Dell made one.
Drake goalkeeper Kalena Litch played all 90 minutes and finished with five saves. Her top two saves both came in the first half. She snared a
Jessica Blake header with a dive to her left in the 19th minute. About 11 minutes later, she prevented
Elise Farrelly from scoring by making a diving save to her right on a blast bound for the left post.
All eight freshmen saw action for EIU, with
Caitlin Greene and
Lauren Hoppensteadt starting the game. Hoppensteadt started at defender but moved up to midfielder midway through the first half. Her 56 minutes were tops among the freshmen.
“Today gave us a chance to test everyone out and see how they play in different roles and really what they can do,” EIU head coach Summer Perala said. It gave us a good starting point for the first real game Friday. Hoppensteadt and Greene have really stepped up and shown some composure through the midfield. So we looked to pair them up some returners that are competitive on the ball and know what we're looking to achieve out of the system.”
As was customary last season, defenders
Sam Balek and
Hillary Blake went the distance among the EIU field players. They were the only ones to do so on this day.
Jessie Morgan and
Sarah Rusk were held out of action due to illness and injury, respectively, but are expected to be available in the near future.
Jenna Wampler and
Ashley Eck both recorded shots on goal for EIU in the final 15 minutes.
Kaitlin Sullivan had the first quality scoring chance of the game, missing wide left of the post after the Litch deflected a cross by
Ashley Streid in the sixth minute.
