CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois women's soccer had a sizable advantage in shots and quality scoring chances, but UMKC scored the game's lone goal in the 56th minute to defeat the Panthers, 1-0, Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Field.

Amanda Casalinuovo gained possession of a right-to-left cross from Taylor Bare and hit a well-placed shot into the top left corner of the net from the top of the 18-yard box for her first goal of the season. Jessica Taldone had taken over in goal for EIU (3-4-1) after halftime and was essentially powerless to do anything about the rising blast into the top 90.

The Panthers had a 17-6 edge in shots and a 10-3 advantage in shots on goal. But UMKC goalkeeper Jami Finnell made all 10 saves, including a pair of impressive fingertip deflections of shots over the crossbar in the first half. Eastern was not able to capitalize on any of its nine corner kick opportunities either. Eight of those nine corner chances came in the first half.

 

“It all comes down to details.” EIU head coach Summer Perala said. “We had a lack of focus in the final third and couldn't finish our chances. The goal came from a breakdown in the center mid because we were either too lazy or too tired to get back and defend a person that should not have gone through free and unmarked. It's just details and we keep hitting them over and over again, [telling the players] 'you guys have to stay focused and execute the details in order to get a win.' Today, UMKC did everything their coaching staff asked them to do and they got the result. We didn't play with pride and we didn't play with passion.”

It was the fifth 1-0 game of the year for the Panthers. Eastern is 2-3 in those 1-0 affairs, including both home losses this season.

Finnell made seven of her 10 saves in the first half to help lead UMKC (1-5) to its first win of the season. She made her key fingertip punch saves in the ninth and 19th minutes, on both occasions deflecting a floating EIU shot from the left flank over the top of the crossbar. Lauren Hoppensteadt and Ashley Streid accounted for those shots on goal.

 

Streid also made a nice run on an EIU corner kick in the 12th minute, getting off a header that went wide left of the left post.

 

The Panthers had three consecutive corner kick chances in the 30th minute, but UMKC successfully defended all three. Kristin Germann's shot that sailed high over the crossbar capped that attacking stretch.

 

Finnell also made a nice kick save on a blast by Kaitlin Sullivan from the left lank in the 49th minute. The ball deflected out of bounds over the endline, leading to EIU's lone corner of the second half.

 

The majority of the Panthers' best offensive rushes up the field in the second half turned into right-to-left crosses played into the 18-yard box. Streid connected with Ashley Eck in the 65th minute, but Eck was at a poor angle near the right post and hit the side of the net. Eastern's final shot on goal of the game came from Hoppensteadt in the 76th minute.

 

Hillary Blake and Erika Prazma went the distance among the EIU field players and Eck logged 50 minutes to lead the reserves. Taldone finished with two saves.

The Panthers are not scheduled to play at home again until Oct. 8. Eastern's six-game road stretch begins Friday with a 3 p.m. (CDT) game at Miami (Ohio).