Nineteen days, six games and 1,884.74 miles.

That is what the men’s soccer team has to endure before its first home game at 5 p.m. Sept. 19 at Lakeside Field against IUPUI.

The team will play another road opponent today. The Panthers play Loyola (Chicago) at 7 p.m. at Loyola Soccer Park in Chicago. The Ramblers (2-2) were ranked No. 10 in the Great Lakes Region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America before losing to Missouri-Kansas City.

The Panthers are excited to be playing in the Windy City.

“We like playing in Chicago because we have a lot of alumni there,” said Eastern men’s soccer head coach Adam Howarth. “We should have a good crowd and a good atmosphere.”

The Panthers will also play at Dayton, Ohio, on Friday.

Travel times can be rough on these road trips with Dayton being more than 350 miles away, and Kansas City more than 240 miles. Add in practices, class, and homework and things get really tough.

Howarth doesn’t feel upset playing on the road to start the year.

“Being on the road helps us the players gel quickly,” Howarth said. “Being together on road trips is great for bonding.”

For most teams, six straight road games would be a burden. But with four games of those road games already completed, the team is 4-0. The Panthers have gone 12-5-1 at neutral or road sites in 2006 and the start of 2007 with a plus 12-goal difference.

The Panthers won tournament championships at the Bradley Holiday Inn City Centre Classic in Peoria and the University of Missouri Kansas-City Invitational in Kansas City, Mo, this season.

Junior Patrick Mabeya said the team does not care if they are on the road or at home.

“We look at teams one by one,” Mabeya said. “As long as we win the game, it doesn’t matter.”

The quality of the road victories is impressive when they defeated then-ranked NSCAA Midwest Region No. 5 UMKC on Sunday 1-0.

Freshman Darby Kehoe is new to the playing on the road. Last year at this time, he was playing at St. Charles East High School. Darby’s farthest road game last season was 33 miles to play Lyons Township in LaGrange.

This season, Darby has traveled to two cities in the Midwest in the first three weeks of school.

“Coach had talked about playing on the road, so I was expecting it,” Kehoe said. “We had study sessions in Kansas City, so that wasn’t bad. But waking up for practice after coming home from the road trip was tough.”

Coach Adam Howarth gives instructions to the men’s soccer team Tuesday afternoon at O’Brien Stadium. The Panthers are heading to Chicago today to face the Loyola Ramblers.

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