The Panthers tried furiously to tie Creighton Saturday afternoon after going down 1-0 early in the game. Even with their best efforts, they were missing the player that could have best helped them.

The Panthers were playing without the leading scorer in the Missouri Valley Conference, sophomore Brad Peters, who was issued a red card at Bradley.

Head coach Adam Howarth said Peters received a red card during the Panthers Oct. 11 game against Bradley after arguing with referees.

Peters was jawing with referees after a foul was called on the Panthers, which resulted in a penalty kick, which Braves junior Stephen Brust made for the game-winning goal in a 1-0 loss for the Panthers.

NCAA rules state that a player or coach that gets a red card before, during, or after a game must sit out the next game.

That rule resulted in Peters wearing street clothes and watching his teams’ comeback attempt against Creighton.

Midfielder Mike Comiskey also earned a red card for arguing with the referees as he walked off the field after the Bradley game.

The senior had to sit out during senior recognition day at Lakeside Field when the Panthers’ four senior players were honored before a crowd of almost 200 hundred fans.

Goalkeeper Paul Jennison said that while Peters and Comiskey would have helped, their absence was an opportunity for other players.

“Having Peters up top would have certainly helped, and Comiskey’s a senior leader for us, everyone loves him,” Jennison said. “But with those guys out it gave other guys a chance to come in and play.”

Junior Dave Rigby and freshman Ari Horing both saw additional time at forward and freshman Jeff Kupiec started in place of Peters.

Lack of conference games

The Panthers have three games left this season, but only one more conference game. Vanderbilt dropped their men’s soccer program entirely after last season, so the MVC has just seven conference teams.

The MVC tournament has six teams with the top two seeds getting first round byes. Currently the Panthers are sixth with a 1-3-1 conference record. Bradley, as the host school, automatically gets a bid, but they are in third place so a controversy will probably be avoided.

Western Kentucky, who tied Eastern 1-1 on Oct. 4 at Lakeside Field, is in last place and is still looking for its first conference win.

Eastern and Creighton have played five games while all the other teams have only played four, which could give Eastern a boost in the standings as Evansville, who the Panthers beat, would move below the Panthers with a loss.

The MVC has 10 teams for basketball, but only five of those schools have men’s soccer programs. Western Kentucky and Eastern Illinois are associate members of the conference.

Goalkeeper switch

Head coach Adam Howarth appeared to make a final decision about who would be his starting goalie during non-conference play.

Sophomore Mark Hansen has started every game of the non-conference schedule besides Asbury College, which was on Jennison’s individual senior day. However, since conference play began, Howarth has turned to his vocal senior goalie from Middlesborough, England.

Jennison had six saves in the Panthers loss to Bradley, a career high, and tallied four more saves against Creighton. Despite allowing just one goal in each of the four conference games he started, Jennison has a 1-2-1 record in those games. The Panthers have lost 10 straight 1-0 games in MVC play with their last 1-0 victory in conference coming against Bradley in 2000.