Issue date: 11/18/08 Section: Sports

Sophomore forward Alex Harrison tries to keep control of the ball during the game against Missouri State on Wednesday in Evansville, Ind. The Panthers finished the season with a 4-1 loss to the Bears in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. (Amir Prellberg | Daily Eastern News)

The Eastern men's soccer team's season did not go quite the way the Panthers had imagined, as they finished the season Wednesday with a 4-1 loss to Missouri State in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in Evansville, Ind.

"I think what you saw summed up the season - lots of chances," Eastern head coach Adam Howarth said after the loss to the Bears. "We put one away, missed a few and defensively, absolutely shocking. We made too many defensive errors. That's been our season. We tried to work on it as much as we could, but we need some changes defensively to make things better for us, so that's what we'll work on in the offseason. That's what the offseason is for."

After posting back-to-back double-digit win seasons in 2006 and 2007, the Panthers finished 2008 with a 5-11-3 overall record and winless at 0-5 in the MVC.

The months of August and September were good to Eastern, as the team finished play in those two months 5-2-1 with a five-goal performance in matches against Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne and Central Arkansas and two shutouts.

After the hot start, the Panthers struggled through October and November.

They went winless during their last 11 matches including finishing the season with seven consecutive losses.

Ties against Western Illinois and Oral Roberts saved the Panthers from an 11-match losing streak.

Eastern looked to have turned the corner in its final two matches as they lost to Missouri State 1-0 in overtime on Nov. 1 and scored three goals against Creighton, the No. 2 team in the nation according to the National Soccer Association of America.

But in the final match of the season, the sixth seeded Panthers lost to the Bears in a rain-soaked battle played on a slip-and-slide of a field in Evansville.

Senior forward Brad Peters said the Panthers battled ups and downs all season long.

"We started off really well," he said. "Just couldn't catch a break by the end of the season. These guys played very well together all year. I think we were just really unlucky."

Despite their record, the Panthers did have some positives this season. Peters scored his 10th goal of the season in Eastern's final match; making it the third straight season he scored double-digit goals. The senior also registered six assists for a total of 26 points. He finished his career as the second leading goal scorer in Eastern's MVC era and the fifth leading scorer in Eastern history with 33 career goals.

Sophomore forward Alex Harrison emerged as a scoring threat for the Panthers and will most likely be the player opposing teams key on next season. He improved from five goals last season to eight goals this season, while also adding seven assists.

Peters was named to his third consecutive All-MVC First Team, while Harrison and senior defender Adam Gartner were named All- MVC Honorable Mention.

Gartner scored two goals and registered three assists for the Panthers this season and was named one of 10 finalists for a prestigious national award, the Lowe's Senior CLASS award.

Midfielder Ryan Child was named to the All-Freshman Team. After sitting out the first six matches, Child averaged more than 70 minutes of play and scored a goal against Evansville.

The Panthers are expected to return 16 letterwinners for next year's team.

"Obviously this season is not what we would have hoped for, but there's great talent on this team for years to come," Gartner said. "I think they'll get things figured out for next season, and the program will continue to turn itself around."


Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools

The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.

Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.

Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.

If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.