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CHARLESTON, Ill. – With only 12 seconds remaining in regulation, Kristin Germann connected on her second clutch penalty kick of the season to help propel Eastern Illinois women's soccer to a 1-0 win against Belmont Friday afternoon at Lakeside Field.
With the contest about to become the Panthers' third consecutive overtime affair, Germann was knocked down from behind by a Belmont (1-4) defender on the right side of the 18-yard box. Ashley Eck had flicked the ball initially and it came to the feet of Germann before she was knocked down. The referee whistled the foul and awarded EIU (3-3-1) the penalty kick. She scored with a rising blast inside the right post, her fifth career goal, four of which have been game-winners.
The victory snapped EIU's four-game (0-3-1) winless streak. The Panthers had not won since Germann connected on a penalty kick opportunity in overtime against Evansville on Aug. 22.
“I was just ready to shoot it,” Germann said. “The game came down to the last 12 seconds, so I knew I had to put it away. It was the perfect opportunity and we had worked hard the entire game. It was a good way to end it. It was a lot easier [after making the PK vs. Evansville]. I knew right where to put it.”
“This is the first game from front to back where they competed the whole time and kept the intensity going,” EIU head coach Summer Perala said. “It was good to see them work very hard for each other and get a result like this.”
Eastern had a number of quality scoring chances in the second half and finally broke through. However, Belmont could have realistically had a 2-0 lead at the half. The Bruins' Jayme Tracino had a pair of quality scoring chances late in the first half.
EIU goalkeeper
Kaylin Lorbert made her lone save of the game in the 37th minute on a one-touch shot by Tracino at point blank range. Lorbert was in position to deflect the shot out of bounds over the end line for Belmont's first corner kick chance of the game. About four and a half minutes later, Tracino missed wide left after she broke free on a run down the right flank for a one-v-one opportunity against Lorbert.
The Panthers scored in the 89th minute but the goal was waved off by an offside call. The linesman on the west sideline had his flag raised for some time before the center referee acknowledged the violation and whistled the play dead. Eastern celebrated the apparent goal for a moment before realizing the game would remain scoreless.
Hillary Blake and
Erika Prazma went the distance among the EIU field players. Eck logged 45 minutes to lead the reserves.
Sam Balek moved from center back to central midfielder and made BU goalkeeper Nicole Berner make a diving save in the 62nd minute. Balek also left the field in the first half for the first time this season, ending her consecutive minutes played streak at 1,194 dating back to 2009.
“Sam is such a good ball winner,” Perala said. “She's so composed and has very good field vision. We were hoping with her in the midfield we'd be able to connect more and keep possession a little bit more. To give everyone credit, there was a bunch of people out of place in the first half. It wasn't quite as flowing as we would like, but it was coming together.”
Berner took over for BU starting goalkeeper Sari Lin at the half. Berner dove to her left to snare Balek's shot in the 62nd minute. The opportunity was setup by a free kick from midfield. Berner also got her arms up in time to snare a rising shot by
Sarah Rusk in the 72nd minute.
While Lorbert was credited with only the one save en route to posting her third shutout of the season and ninth career, she did make some nice aggressive plays to eliminate free balls near the top of the 18-yard box in the game's final 15 minutes. Lorbert lowered her goals against average this season to 0.56 in the process. The four goals EIU has allowed through the first seven games this season are the fewest in program history. The Panthers' three victories and one draw so far this year have all been in shutout fashion.
Eastern returns to action Sunday when it hosts UMKC at 1 p.m. It will be EIU's final home game before beginning a six-game road stretch Sept. 17.
