Brad Peters has been on a roll this season.

The senior forward on Eastern’s men’s soccer team has scored seven goals this season to rank him 11th nationally, and he has also scored 17 points. Those numbers also rank him at the top of the Missouri Valley Conference.

But it was his performance against Wright State on Friday that gave his season statistics a boost, as he notched his second career hat trick in the Panthers’ 4-1 win against the Raiders.

“He had three chances to put the ball away and did pretty well,” Eastern head men’s soccer coach Adam Howarth said.

Now Peters and the rest of the Panthers are looking forward to one of their biggest matches of year when they travel to Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday to play No. 21 Ohio State – last year’s NCAA runner-up.

“We’ve got two huge games this week,” Peters said. “At (Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis) Wednesday and at Ohio State Sunday. Everyone on the team is pretty excited about that.”

The Buckeyes were defeated last week by No. 3 Northwestern.

The Wildcats beat Eastern 3-0 at the Northern Illinois/Adidas Invitational on Sept. 12 in DeKalb.

The Panthers haven’t lost a match since.

Led by Peters and fellow forward Alex Harrison, the Eastern men’s soccer team has scored 10 goals and allowed just two in its two wins and one tie.

“Its awesome having Alex up there with me because defenders have to watch out for both of us,” Peters said. “It helps a lot to get open when you’ve got another good player like that.”

Harrison has scored five goals this season, and both he and Peters have been recognized by the MVC as players of the week. This week, Peters’ honors went on a national stage, as he was selected by two collegiate soccer Web sites for their national teams of the week.

Howarth said he has been pleased by the performance of his two league leaders.

“Those guys can put the ball in the back of the net, and they’ve been great for us all year,” he said.

Peters has led his team to a 5-2-1 overall record so far this season, but he said he couldn’t have accomplished what he has without support from his teammates.

“It’s nice to be a leader of anything – especially a team like this,” Peters said. “It’s nice to have these guys behind me”

That appreciation for his teammates is well deserved, as 10 other players on the Panthers’ roster have had assists headed into Wednesday night’s match against IUPUI. Make that 11 players if you include Peters’ three assists this season.

“It’s been good because they’re probably the first to admit that they couldn’t do it without the rest of the players setting them up,” Howarth said of Peters’ and Harrison’s leadership on the field.

With the challenge of Ohio State this Sunday, look for Peters and Harrison to give the Buckeyes fits. Peters said the Panthers are looking for a big upset against the Big Ten team.

“Anytime you go play a big program school like that the atmosphere is going to be great,” Peters said. “They’re going to be athletic – we know that going in. It’s just like Northwestern and Northern Illinois, teams we’ve already played, so were not going to give them too much respect.”

The Panthers have been preparing intensely for what is sure to be one of their toughest matches of the year. Ohio State is currently unbeaten at home, so Eastern is looking to hand the Buckeyes their first loss in Columbus this year.

“We’ve always said to ourselves that we want to be tested against the best,” Peters said. “And these guys were the second best last year. So we’ve put our best foot forward. In terms of playing, we’ve tested ourselves against a very good Northwestern team that just beat Ohio State.”

Richard Morse can be reached at 581-7944 or at rjmorse@eiu.edu.

Senior forward Brad Peters on Eastern’s men’s soccer team has scored seven goals this season to rank him 11th nationally, and he has also scored 17 points. Those numbers also rank him at the top of the Missouri Valley Conference. (Amir Prellberg/The Daily

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