The Eastern men’s soccer team is finally coming home again.

After five straight matches on the road, the Panthers will host Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne at 1 p.m. Sunday at Lakeside Field.

Eastern head coach Adam Howarth said the Mastodons (3-4-1) are a much different team than the Panthers (2-2-2) saw a year ago when the Panther’s won 5-2.

“They will be direct at times,” Howarth said. “But other times they like to knock it around as well. We are hoping to get behind them a little bit and cause them some problems.”

Howarth said the Panthers are glad to finally be back at home and this match, which is the last before conference play starts, will be a good warm-up for the Panthers.

“We just want to make sure we get everything organized,” Howarth said. “We may see a few different people in different spots, but we are just trying to get ready for the conference schedule.”

Freshman goalkeeper Shailer Thomas said the team learned a lot about itself during last weekend’s pair of tournament matches.

“We have learned that we are capable of scoring goals when we need to,” Thomas said. “That’s what it comes down to finally finishing opportunities when they are all there. We are finally finding that rhythm up top. It took a few games, but not it is finally there.”

Eastern won its match Friday 2-0 against Stony Brook and tied Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis 1-1.

Freshman midfielder Ryan Warren said he was happy with Eastern’s performance last weekend.

“In all fairness we should have won both games,” Warren said. “We had a good week of training, so I think we have a good shot this weekend.”

He said the team is starting to come together just in time for the conference schedule.

Sophomore forward Max Touloute leads the team with seven points this season with three goals and one assist.

Sophomore midfielder Colin Helmrich and junior forward Casey Bowman both are second on the team with five points, one goal and one assist.

The Mastodons will play two weekend matches as they host Centenary College at home today.

Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.