Issue date: 10/18/05 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Daniel Williams Junior midfielder Johan Schwarzmayr and Northern Illinois junior forward Kevin Woerner fight for possession of the ball during Sunday´s game at Lakeside Field. [Click to enlarge]

The Panthers played in their third Missouri Valley Conference game Sunday ending regulation with a tie and playing two-overtime periods before finishing tied 1-1.

Eastern (4-6-2, 1-1-1) was seconds from a two-loss conference record when sophomore midfielder Brad Earl scored on a Mick Galeski set up with 57 seconds remaining in regulation. The last five minutes of regulation was when all of the scoring occurred, with Drake (4-7-2, 1-1-1) scoring their lone goal off of the leg of senior midfielder Jesse Baker with four minutes left in regulation.

This finish was the second time in its last two games that Eastern has scored a goal in the last minute. Against Western Kentucky last week senior Jimmy Klatter scored the game-winning goal with 45 seconds remaining.

Eastern head coach Adam Howarth knows that this game could have ended differently but the Panthers played well and would not give up.

"The good thing was we battled all game, certainly I think we played better in the first half," Howarth said. "In the second half we didn't play as well but we did show some character which we probably wouldn't have done last year."

The goal scored for Eastern was the fourth goal of the season for Earl, which ties him for the team lead with senior captain Klatter.

"We were pushing everyone forward and we needed to get something done with time running out and Adam (Gartner) threw it in and they cleared it to Galeski," Earl said. "He got it right to my foot and I just tipped it inside for the score, we knew at half that we just needed to play smarter."

Freshman goalkeeper Mark Hansen played well in his first start at home stopping four of the five shots on goal. Hansen is the third goalkeeper used this season by the Panthers and like the goalkeepers used before him, Hansen will be the starter until he proves other wise.

Sunday's game was a scrappy competition stocked with intensity and physical play. The referees had a busy day with 30 fouls called between the two teams with Eastern accounting for 20 of them. The yellow cards were worn out by the end of the game, with Drake receiving two compared to the three cards Eastern had, one of which was called on Howarth. Eastern trainer Ryan Collins got into the mix receiving a red card and being ejected 40 minutes into the game.

After Sunday's tie coach Adam Howarth liked the effort displayed by his team and knows that with the same intensity Wednesday's game will bring a win.

"The difference with the team this year is we have some fighting character and that was exactly what we needed," Howarth said. "We were smart at the end and we came back so it was a nice game to get us focused in conference."

The Panthers will resume MVC play Wednesday when they host Bradley at Lakeside Field.

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