Men’s soccer team gaining its footing
The Eastern men’s soccer team survived early struggles for its first comeback win of the season Sunday with a 4-2 victory over Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne at Lakeside Field.
The Panthers (3-2-1) went down 1-0 eight minutes into the match, but outscored IPFW 4-1 to finish the match for their first home victory of the season.
“In the first half, I didn’t think we would be in the situation we were with 20 minutes left,” Eastern head coach Adam Howarth said. “We struggled in the first 15, 20 minutes and to be fair, they were the better team. In the second half, I think we won the game in the first 15, 20 minutes.”
Sophomore forward Max Touloute put the Mastodon’s (3-6-1) up early as he dribbled to the middle of the box to the right side and shot it left past Eastern junior goalkeeper Sean Molony.
In the 15th minute, Eastern responded.
Junior forward Alex Harrison scored his first goal of the season. Molony served the ball going over freshman forward Kyle Bullock’s head. Harrison came in from behind, shot the ball from the left side to the bottom right corner.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Harrison said of his goal. “Longer than I want, but basically (Molony) just played the ball over the defenders. I just kept running and got under it and was able to beat the last defender.”
Eastern took the lead in the 42nd minute when sophomore midfielder Jonathan Hinds scored his second goal of the season.
The ball was just outside the box as Eastern and IPFW players scrambled for the ball. The ball came free and Hinds got a clean shot at the goal.
Bullock scored two second-half goals to seal the victory for the Panthers.
His first goal showcased his speed in the 49th minute as he beat the Mastodon center back and schooled the goalkeeper with a one-on-one play.
Bullock said Harrison played a great ball to him.
When the goalkeeper came out, he said he decided to dribble around him and shoot it in.
His second goal came in the 56th minute after he had an open shot after a ball was headed forward by freshman midfielder Jerry Maddi on a free kick by sophomore forward Ryan Child.
Bullock said after the first score by IPFW, Eastern became more alert.
“We started to pick our game up in the second half,” Bullock said. “We decided to dominate the game and things just all went our way.”
Eastern allowed a penalty kick goal when the game was out of reach in the 79th minute, as junior forward Casey Bowman beat freshman goalkeeper Shailer Thomas on a penalty kick.
Molony started the match in goal for the Panthers and stopped five shots in 76 minutes of work.
Thomas made one save in 14 minutes of action.
Eastern will begin its Missouri Valley Conference schedule at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Lakeside Field when it takes on Evansville.
Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or dscusack@eiu.edu.
Men’s soccer team gaining its footing
Sophomore midfielder Jonathan Hinds scores on IPFW’s goalie Donovan Dowling Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Field. The Panthers would go on to beat the Mastodons 4-2.(Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News)
