The men’s soccer team’s season has come down to the final three matches of the season.

With days remaining in the regular season the Panthers are on the outside looking in to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Eastern is currently in fifth place, six points behind Drake. The Panthers will look to move up in the standings as they take on Bradley 8 p.m. in Peoria for their final road match of the season.

“I believe every game now is a must win,” said freshman forward Kyle Bullock. “We just have to play like we did against Creighton, and we’ll be all good.”

Eastern has already beaten the Braves once this season, when the Panthers downed them 1-0 at Lakeside Field Oct. 18.

Senior midfielder Evan Philpott scored a late goal in the second half to give the Panthers there first win against the Braves in 10 tries.

But as Creighton can attest to (the Bluejays beat the Panthers 5-1 at home, then tied them 0-0 this season), beating a team in this conference can be a tough task.

“They are obviously going to be fired up, it’s their final home game, obviously. They have a rough go of it, but I feel very confident we can go in there and get a result,” said Eastern coach Adam Howarth.

Howarth said the main thing is that the Panthers pay well.

Despite their record, the Panthers (6-6-3, 2-4 -1 MVC) are not looking ahead and have had a great week of practice according to Howarth.

“We are not in a position to take teams lightly,” Howarth said. “We have to make sure we take things seriously and work hard on Saturday.”

Bullock said in the match earlier this season, both Bradley (5-10-1, 0-8) and Eastern played well, but that the Panthers were able to control the ball well.

“Even though they have won in conference they are still a good team and we have to go out there and beat them,” Bullock said.

Howarth said he hates the term must win, and feels the team must focus on themselves.

“We have to make sure that we take care of business and in that way we will be fine,” Howarth said.

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