Senior midfielder Brad Earl knows about game-winning goals.

When Eastern and Kentucky were tied at zero in the second overtime on Friday, the senior snuck a goal past Kentucky sophomore goalkeeper Dan Williams to give the Panthers a 1-0 victory in Lexington, Ky., for his second straight game-winning goal.

“It was one of my biggest goals at Eastern,” Earl said. “The ball touched up to (freshman forward Alex) Harrison, it bounced up, and the defender hit it and it came to me.”

Earl has 12 career goals, and now has four game-winning goals. The Coppell, Tex. native scored the game-winning goal against Western Illinois in overtime last season. Earl also scored the game-winning goal against Asbury College last season.

Eastern head coach Adam Howarth said this was one of the biggest victories he has had at Eastern.

“This was definitely one of our best performances of the season,” Howarth said. “It was a very tight game; we fought hard and challenged for every ball. Any time you can go into Lexington and beat Kentucky – I don’t care what sport – it is a big deal.”

The Panthers (6-1-1) defeated Kentucky (1-4-2) in the first ever match between the two schools in soccer.

Earl’s goal came, with time winding down, during the second overtime. Harrison shot the ball, which was stopped and deflected back towards him. He then passed the ball to Earl, who beat the goalkeeper from 10 feet out.

The team recorded its fifth shutout of the season when junior goalkeeper Mark Hansen made two important saves in the beginning of the second half, Howarth said.

Kentucky’s sophomore forward Tim Crone challenged Hansen with two shots early in the 47th minute.

The defense limited the Wildcats to six shots in the game, with none of them coming in the two overtime periods. Kentucky was also held to only two shots on goal in the game.

Kentucky freshman midfielder Jirijoonas Kanth scored in the 76th minute, which was called off by an offside penalty.

Senior defender Jeremy Maubach played an important part in the Panthers’ victory: he played all 109 minutes of the game.

Maubach was impressed by his team’s performance.

“The defense is playing the best it can,” Maubach said. “This win tonight showed us that we can beat anyone, and that we should never fear anyone.”

Earl said the defense played fantastically.

“No one on the team played bad,” said Earl. “The defense played the best I’ve ever seen it play.”

Defenders played the entire match, which included sophomore Chris Pearson, junior Adam Gartner and sophomore Nick Bonacker.

The Panthers return to Lakeside Field when they play Western Illinois at 5 p.m. Tuesday.