The men’s soccer team snapped a 10-match winless streak against Bradley, by downing the Braves 1-0 Sunday at Lakeside Field.

The lone goal of the match came in the 76th minute when senior midfielder Evan Philpott scored on a blast off a free kick by junior forward Alex Harrison.

Harrison took a corner kick and the ball was deflected and flew out to Philpott. The senior did not let the ball touch the ground and blasted it in from the right side of the goal.

“What I have been doing is working on my own technique before practices,” Philpott said. “It’s one of those things where you just hope a ball comes to you in that position. My eyes got big and I just nailed it in.”

The Braves had possession in the Eastern zone for a majority of the end of the second half, but the Panthers only allowed two shots on goal.

Red-shirt junior goalkeeper Sean Molony recorded his fifth shutout of the season stopping two shots.

“It feels brilliant,” senior defender Chris Pearson said. “We threw everything at the them in second half expect for the kitchen sink. For the back four and the goalkeeper we just grinded it out really.”

Bradley’s best opportunity came in the 37th minute when Justin Bigelow hit the post in the with a shot from the right side.

Sophomore midfielder Jonathan Hinds nearly scored in the 48th minute after a shot that bounced through the box, but the Braves made a team save knocking it out of bounds.

Eastern head coach Adam Howarth said it felt great to get a win against the Braves and thinks that Eastern caught them at the right time.

“It was a slop-fest,” Howarth said. “To be fair, I thought we played better in the first half. I think they played better in the second half. I think we got a little bit of luck on the goal. It’s a shame, but to be fair they have probably had their share of luck in the past. It’s nice for us to be on the good side of luck as well.”

Pearson said given the field conditions, he thought the Panthers held the ball pretty well.

The field was muddy in places and torn up as the men’s match was the second of a doubleheader, and the third match of the weekend.

Pearson only needed one world to describe how it felt to finally beat Bradley.

“Excellent, Pearson said. “My senior year to finally beat Bradley it feels excellent. Now all we have to do is beat Creighton.”

Eastern’s next match will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa as the Panthers travel to take on Drake.

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

Freshmen forward Kyle Bullock gets past Bradley senior defender Travis English Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Field. The Panthers would go on to win 1-0 ending a 10 game winless drought against the Braves. (Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News)

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