After a disappointing loss to Drake, the Eastern men’s soccer team’s season is finally over.

The Panthers struggled all year long; posting just a 4-12-1 record overall and a 1-5-1 record in the Missouri Valley Conference.

When the season started, all players and coaches had aspirations of playing in the MVC tournament at the end of the season; however, with a loss to Drake, the Panthers’ season ended leaving them no hope of playing in the tournament.

I personally thought the Panthers were going to make the tournament at the beginning of the season. They have good talent, but they consistently struggled to score goals.

The Panthers lost 10 of their 12 games by just one goal. This makes some people wonder that maybe the Panthers were just unlucky this year, but how could one team have that much bad luck?

Personally, I never use luck as an excuse for losing. Statements like “if the ball bounced this way, then.” or, “if he would not have just missed that goal.”

If you lose you lose, the opposing team outplayed you on a given day. It’s not the referee’s fault and it’s not the soccer ball’s fault. The fault lies with the team. It could be that the team was unprepared for the game, or it could be that the team just did not play well. Whatever reasons you think of for why a team lost a game, it is still the team’s fault.

The Panthers season was a roller coaster. They would play really well for a stretch of games and then they would play very poorly during the next stretch.

I think it all comes down to consistency; no team is going to play well in the postseason if they have not played consistently well all season long.

Consistency gives teams confidence that they can play well in big games. I think this is why the Panthers lost the tournament clinching game against Evansville.

All the Panthers had to do was beat Evansville and they would have been in the MVC tournament, but somewhere deep down in the player they had doubts because they had been inconsistent all season.

I can tell that the Panthers have some good talent on their roster; however, if they are going to be successful in the future they are going to have to play well consistently.

Rob Mortell can be reached at 581-7944 or rdmortell@eiu.edu.