The men’s soccer season is drawing to a close, but two tough matches remain for the team.

The Panthers will play its second-to-last match at 3 p.m. today at Lakeside Field against Drake.

Even though Eastern cannot make the Missouri Valley Tournament, they can still play the role of spoiler.

Senior midfielder Evan Philpott said the team hopes they can wreak some havoc against its final two opponents, the Bulldogs and Missouri State. Creighton and Evansville are the other two teams competing battling for tournament seeding.

Both teams have the opportunity to finish anywhere from first to fourth in the conference.

The Panthers played Drake on the road Oct. 21 and lost 3-0 on the road.

Eastern created a lot of chances in the rainy match in Des Moines, Iowa, but were unable to find the back of the net.

Eastern coach Adam Howarth said they are a big physical team that plays a traditional 4-4-2 formation.

He said the Panthers have had a successful season so far and will use these final two matches to prepare for next season.

“For these last few games we are going to focus on ourselves and make sure we get better,” Howarth said.

Senior striker Garrett Webb leads the Bulldogs with five goals and four assists on the season. Junior midfielder Matt Kuhn is right behind with four goals and five assists. He scored a goal and notched an assist against the Panthers in the match in October.

Senior Chris Pearson said that it is important to him and the rest of the team that Eastern finishes above .500. If the Panthers win their final two matches they will accomplish this feat.

Pearson said if the Panthers can do this, the season will be considered a success.

Wednesday will be Senior Appreciation Night for the Panthers.

Pearson, Phillpot, defender Nick Bonacker, defender Jeff Kupiec and midfielder Jim Adee will be honored before the match for their contributions to Panther soccer.

So far, the senior class has won 34 matches and every season except for 2008 has been winning seasons.

Start time changed

The Eastern Athletic Department announced late Tuesday that the start of Wednesday’s game between Eastern and Drake has been moved up to 2:30 p.m. The press release said the reason for the change is to allow for extra daylight in case the game goes into overtime.

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