Offense still needs work
The Panthers have lost seven games this year and six of those seven games have been 0-1 losses.
Their most recent loss to Missouri State on Saturday made it four consecutive 0-1 losses; however, the offense played more aggressively.
Eastern head coach Adam Howarth said the Panthers played well the entire game except for the first minute. He said the Bears are a good team but the game easily could have gone the other way.
“They (Missouri State) are happy that they won the game, but realistically they knew that they were never going to out-play us,” Howarth said. “But that’s the way the game is, it’s just frustrating.”
The Panthers out-shot Missouri State 15-11. In all of Eastern 0-1 losses, the Panthers opponents have out-shot them 103-67.
The Panther offense is going to struggle if they keep getting out-shot by nearly 35 percent of what they are shooting.
Howarth said his team isn’t getting the lucky bounce.
“You need something to happen that goes your way, that’s why this is such a cruel game,” Howarth said.
Defense continues to play well
Aside from the first minute of play against Missouri State, the defense played well.
They allowed no goals after the Bears scored less than a minute into the game. Despite their strong play, Eastern ended up with the loss.
Senior goalkeeper Sean Molony continues to play at a high level. Entering the game against Missouri State he allowed 0.88 goals per game, which ranked third in the Missouri Valley Conference.
He allowed just the one goal, bringing is average goals allowed up to 0.9.
Howarth said the defense has been playing well all season.
Junior defenseman Graham Lynch is a part of the reason why the defense has played so well.
Howarth said he has been the best player on the team all year.
Graham said the approach against the Bears was to play more aggressively instead of defensively.
This style of play did not hurt the Panthers defense; however it did not help the offense either.
“We are trying to fix things and turn around the season,” Lynch said.
The Panthers tried many different ideas to jump-start their offense on Saturday. They tried a new starting lineup and a new offensive formation.
“We are struggling to put players in the box and get shots on goal, so we are trying to work on that more,” Lynch said.
Around the MVC
No. 11 Creighton beat No. 5 Tulsa 3-1 improving their record to 8-2 on the season. The Bluejays are 1-0 in the conference.
Southern Illinois-Edwardsville beat Bradley 3-2 in overtime. The game was the first MVC game for both teams.
The winning goal came off a throw-in as Jack Twellman headed the ball in from 12 yards out.
Drake beat Evansville 2-1 in a conference match-up. The game-winning goal came in the 76th minute as Nick Foster made a shot from just inside the midfield line.
Drake’s record improved to 5-5-1 on the year and Evansville fell to 4-6-1.
Rob Mortell can be reached at 581-7944 or at rdmortell@eiu.edu
Offense still needs work
Junior midfielder Ryan Child fights over the ball with IUPUI’s Denny Moynihan during the game on Sept. 22 at Lakeside Field. (Audrey Sawyer
