Eastern knew it had to win Saturday night against Drake to secure the fifth seed in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

But the Panthers play earned them a scoreless tie and the sixth seed.

Saturday night’s game was Eastern’s top defensive game this season, but the Bulldogs matched the Panthers’ effort.

“We fought better than we have ever done,” said head coach Adam Howarth. “We had some chances, especially in the first half. It was frustrating not to finish those chances and get the victory.”

Eastern and Drake totaled only eight shots in the scoreless draw at the Crownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines, Iowa.

Both teams combined for only three shots in the second half and both overtimes.

The Bulldogs appeared to take the lead late in the game but the game-breaking goal was called back on an offsides penalty.

Drake managed five shots, but they were on target and sophomore goalie Mark Hansen tallied four saves.

“They were really trying to break us down with passing,” senior defender Phil Clemmer said. “They were waiting for us to make a mistake but we never did.”

Junior captain Mick Galeski recorded two of the Panthers three shots, with the other shot taken by sophomore Brad Peters.

Howarth removed Peters and fellow starting forward Brad Earl from the game after the first half. Despite the defensive battle, Howarth pulled his top scorers to prevent the pair from earning any more yellow cards this season.

“We needed to be smart in that respect. We don’t need either of them getting another yellow card and missing the next game,” Howarth said. “That’s 13 goals this season sitting on the bench.”

The draw was a record-setting fifth for the Bulldogs this season and forced the Panthers into the six seed in the MVC tournament.

Evansville’s 2-1 victory against Western Kentucky Friday night gave them two conference victories and the Panthers knew they had to beat Drake to secure the fifth seed.

The draw gave the Panthers an opening-round game with Missouri State at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Eastern opened up conference play at Missouri State on Sept. 30 with a 2-0 loss.

“They are a very quick counter-attack team,” Clemmer said. “They look to dish it off. There are no greedy players on that team. They work their nuts off just like we do.”

Eastern will not be able to tie Missouri State because tournament games are settled with penalty kicks.

Last year, Eastern lost its opening round match to Vanderbilt on sudden death penalty kicks.

In the regular season Eastern has had just one penalty kick attempt, which Earl made against Wisconsin-Green Bay on Sept. 17.

“We will work on penalty kicks a little bit,” Howarth said about the team’s next two days of practice. “We have worked on penalty kicks a lot this year but we need to be ready if we get in that situation, but hopefully we won’t.”