With just a few seconds left in regulation, sophomore midfielder Adam Gartner had the chance to break the tie. But like a lot of the Panthers attempts Wednesday, Western Kentucky goalkeeper Pat Rickman saved Gartner’s shot.

“It was a great opportunity, but I couldn’t put it away, Gartner said. “I was calling for it but I just didn’t get my foot set.”

The Panthers outshot the Hilltoppers 23-7 but Rickman recorded 10 saves as the Panthers tied the Hilltoppers 1-1 in Eastern’s first Missouri Valley Conference home game.

In the first half, Western Kentucky was winning the battle in the air.

The Hilltoppers used their size to head balls away from Eastern’s scoring threats and back to their forwards.

In the 32nd minute, WKU sophomore forward Dustin Downey rifled a shot from 15 yards out into the lower left hand corner of the goal, just outside the hands of diving goalie Mark Hansen.

Down 1-0 at the half, head coach Adam Howarth knew he had to pick his team up.

“I’ll be honest, I kind of read them the riot act at halftime,” Howarth said “(The team’s play) was just unacceptable. It was one of those halftime speeches that you have to do sometimes try to light some fire up their heinies.”

The speech worked as the Panthers came out hustling after the break, setting up the rebound that would result in the tying goal.

A missed shot was rebounded by junior forward Brad Earl who flicked a pass up through five Western Kentucky defenders.

Galeski jumped in front of another defender and headed the ball into the top left corner of the net for the equalizing goal in the 67th minute.

Battling back and forth with the score tied at one, the play became more and more intense.

WKU head coach David Holmes got into a loud verbal confrontation with one of his own players, senior midfielder Joe German.

After an Eastern near miss, Holmes yelled at German, telling him to sit because he was “fat and slow.”

In addition to harping on his own players, Holmes repeatedly barked out orders to his players while being openly hostile towards Eastern players in the process.

“We’re on the field, we can hear him yakking,” Gartner said. “But that just gives us more motivation to play harder and make him quiet.”

Tempers also flared on the field, with Galeski receiving a yellow card six minutes after halftime and junior defender Jeremy Maubach getting into a shoving match with Hilltopper midfielder Will Fancher.

After outshooting the Hilltoppers seven to six in the first half, Eastern held their opponents to one shot in the second half and both overtimes combined and the Panthers took 16 shots.

The improved play in the second half did not totally satisfy Howarth, as he felt his team lacked something.

“It seemed like there was something missing today,” he said. “I don’t know exactly what it was, we’ll have to watch the tape and figure it out. But a point is a point and we’ll take it. In the long run it will help us.”