In the fifth minute against Creighton Saturday afternoon, Bluejay forward Rodrigo Faria scored his second goal of the season and it appeared a rout similar to last years’ 5-1 drubbing by Creighton was in the makings again for Eastern.

That was hardly the case.

The Panthers outplayed the reigning Missouri Valley Conference Tournament champions for the majority of the game but could not finish on scoring opportunities and the early goal became the game winner.

Creighton goalkeeper Nathan Gibson saved six shots, including a diving stop on senior David Amdor’s rocket shot three minutes before halftime, to preserve the clean sheet victory and Creighton’s undefeated record in conference play.

Eastern (9-5-1, 1-3-1 MVC) dropped its second consecutive conference game, but their play against the class of the conference stood out.

The midfielders, particularly junior captain Mick Galeski in the middle and freshman Evan Philpott on the outside, consistently fought for the ball and kept the pressure on the Bluejays’ defense, which allowed Eastern to outshoot Creighton 11 to seven.

When the ball did get by the Panther midfielders the defense buckled down against the preseason No. 8 ranked team in the nation. Eastern’s defense held Creighton’s standout senior striker and captain Michael Kraus to only one shot.

“We fell asleep for one minute, and against teams of this quality you can not do that,” said Eastern head coach Adam Howarth. “That’s why they’re league champs, why they have been to the tournament every year since they have been around.”

The Panthers level of play was not lost on the Bluejays.

“I think this is the best Eastern team that I’ve seen since I’ve been in the (Missouri) Valley,” said Creighton head coach Bob Warming. “They competed very hard.”

Last year in Omaha, Neb., the Panthers lost 5-1 in front of 1,459 Bluejays fans at Morrison Stadium.

But senior defender Phil Clemmer said Creighton did not use the same strategy Saturday that worked so well last season.

“The last few times they possessed it more, they knocked it around more and tried to break us down,” Clemmer said. “This time they tried knocking it over the top and just tried to run at us. At some times they had six forwards up top going against us.

“I felt like we matched their intensity. We outplayed them most of the second half.”

Being the dominant team in the conference for the majority of the past decade has put a target on the Bluejays’ backs, always getting the opposing team’s best effort. Warming and his coaching staff have even named the phenomenon.

“We call it the 20 percent rule,” Warming said. “Teams are going to compete 20 percent harder at least against us than they do against everybody else.”

Senior goalkeeper Paul Jennison, who finished with four saves, said the team did not need any extra motivation for this game.

“This is what it’s all about, playing a team like that,” Jennison said. “Last year they did embarrass us up there, but everyone that watched this game knows now there is not a big difference between us because we just outplayed them for 65 minutes.”

Howarth was proud of his team’s gritty performance and the way the team battled in the frustrating loss.

“That’s the biggest thing we do this year, we fight harder than anybody,” he said.

“When you think about what they have and what we have, our players are just blue-collar, hard-working guys and we outplayed them for big stretches of the game and I think everybody that came here saw that today.”