Less than two minutes remained in the Eastern men’s soccer teams final exhibition game when the midfielder, junior Kendal Spurgen, tapped in the game-winning goal.

It was an unexpected outcome. Minutes earlier, senior midfielder Graham Lynch contacted with a well-aimed shot, but an excellent save by St. Xavier’s goalkeeper kept Eastern from taking the lead. The save led to a corner kick that was served into traffic and, despite Eastern’s best efforts, it looked to end in a tie until Spurgen’s lucky shot.

Eastern head coach Adam Howarth said that he was happy with the result, but the team still has a lot of work to do before the start of the regular season.

“It was a good way to win,” Howarth said. “In the end Kendal (Spurgen) came in and gave us a spurt and that was exactly what we needed.”

The Panthers fell behind early in the game when St. Xavier junior Kyle Breitenbach put his team, the Cougars, up a goal just seven minutes into the game.

The Cougars almost pulled ahead to a 2-0 lead, but freshman forward Will Butler made a team save to keep the Panthers just one goal behind.

Another freshman was able to make his mark when forward Garet Christianson connected on a header to even up the game at 1-1.

“We have a little bit more depth this year,” Howarth said. “There were a lot of players that came in when they needed to come in and played real well.”

After stalemating for the first 20 minutes of the first half, senior Adrian Guzman put the Cougars up 2-1. But Eastern was quick to answer.

Lynch was set up with a pass from senior forward Ryan Child. Lynch did not hesitate, as he headed the ball past the goalkeeper to tie the score at 2-2. Lynch lead the team with five shots, four of which were on goal.

“Defensively, there are a few things we need to clean up, but we got better,” Howarth said.

Eastern finished its exhibition season with a 1-2 record.

The Panthers open the regular season on Aug. 26 on the road at Northwestern University.

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