One streak will come to an end in the Eastern men’s soccer team match at 4 p.m. today at Lakeside Field. Well, unless the match ends in a tie.

The Panthers (3-2-2) will host Evansville to open the Missouri Valley Conference schedule.

The Purple Aces (6-2) enter the match with the longest unbeaten streak in the conference at five, while the Panthers are second with four.

Eastern head coach Adam Howarth said he is excited for the conference schedule to open at home, but knows it will be a tough match because Evansville is a talented, well-coached team.

“They’ll possess the ball, and they are very athletic,” Howarth said. “They are quick on the outside so they will not be shy taking people on.”

Howarth said although Evansville scores a lot of goals (19), they also have given up a lot already (11).

“We are hoping we can do a good job against them defensively and knock in a few ourselves,” Howarth said.

For Eastern, many of its main contributors will be in a new situation. Eastern has relied heavily on its bench so far this season, but also a number of freshmen.

Freshman forward Kyle Bullock leads the team in goals with three, freshman forward Jerry Maddi leads the team in shots with 27 and is second in minutes with 588. All freshmen and transfers have seen playing time this season.

For them, conference play will be a new experience.

Maddi said he is thrilled for his first taste of conference action.

“Coming in, everyone talks about how these games are more fast-paced and more aggressive, so I am excited for it,” Maddi said. “We saw that all the other teams in the Missouri Valley Conference are ranked, so we have a chip on our shoulder. We want to go out there and show everybody what we are about.”

He said the key to the match will be to play good defense because Evansville can score a lot of goals.

Freshman midfielder Kendal Spurgin said he also heard from teammates about the intensity of conference matches.

“I have heard that it is a lot faster and ten times harder,” Spurgin said. “We just have to focus and not let any mental mistakes happen.”

Evansville is currently riding a five-match winning streak, with its latest victory coming against Western Illinois in a 4-2 win Friday.

Two Purple Ace players are currently tied for second in the conference in goals.

Junior forward Mike Luttrull and sophomore Tad Kreamalmeyer each have four on the season. Junior midfielder Robby Lynch is tied for fifth in the MVC with three goals already.

“We are looking good in practice, and we are ready to go,” Howarth said. “We are looking for a big crowd and it should be a good game.”

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

Missouri Valley Conference glance

Today’s matches

^Evansville at Eastern

^Bradley at Creighton

Thursday’s match

&Missouri State at Denver

Saturday’s matches

^Evansville at Creighton

^Drake at Bradley

Sunday’s match

^Eastern at Bradley

^: MVC match

&: MVC team in non-MVC match

Eastern freshman forward Jerry Maddi prepares to kick the ball during Sunday’s match against Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne at Lakeside Field. (Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News)

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