Photo Gallery by Sandy King

CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois women's soccer team fell, 2-1, to Indiana State on Wednesday afternoon at Lakeside Field. The exhibition match was the first preseason tune up for both squads.

The Panthers got on the scoreboard first in the ninth minute when freshman Brooke Sill headed the ball into the back of the net from five yards out off a corner kick by classmate Jade Schwarting.

“Scoring off a set piece right away was amazing,” said EIU head coach Summer Perala. “We had a lot of opportunities on goal and our midfield play is coming together. It shows we have some soccer savvy kids and it was exciting for me to see as the halves progressed that we were getting better and better.”

The lead would not last long as Indiana State's Seyma Erenli scored the first of her two goals in the 15th minute just inside the 18-yard box. The match remained knotted at one until the 88th minute when Erenli headed the ball from five yards out on the left side of the box off a pass from Alison Gasparovich.

The Sycamores took two more shots (18-16) than the Panthers. EIU had seven shots on goal in the match and took three corner kicks to ISU's eight.

Panther goalkeepers Jessica Taldone and Brittany O'Dell shared time between the pipes and accounted for eight saves.

The two teams played three, 30-minute periods with a running clock.

“We had the newcomers ready to play today,” said senior captain Erika Prazma. “Two of them finished off a goal early in the match for us. Unfortunately we gave up a goal after that. We have a few steps to work out, but we are putting the pieces together and we are going to have a great team this year.”

EIU returns to action on Saturday, Aug. 13 against Evansville for its final exhibition match of the preseason. The match is schedule to begin at 1 p.m. at Lakeside Field.