Eastern’s men’s soccer team lost 1-3 to the University of Missouri at Kansas City, dropping its Summit League record to 1-2-1.

The Panthers have two conference matches left this season: at home against Oakland and on the road against Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne.

Eastern is currently fifth in the standings and trails the first-place team by two points. The top four teams in Summit League make the tournament at the end of the season.

Eastern and Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis are currently tied for the last playoff spot since both teams have four points and tied in their head-to-head match.

Irwin has another assist

Freshman forward Jake Irwin has been one of the best assist men in the Summit League so far this season.

Irwin picked up his fifth assist in the Panther loss to Missouri-Kansas City. He now ranks second in the conference in assists and trails only IPFW’s Max Touloute by one.

Touloute leads the league in assists, goals, points and shots.

With his fifth assist, Irwin is now tied with the team-high assist from last season. Senior forward Ryan Child had five last year.

Summit League players of the week

Oakland’s sophomore midfielder Andrew Barrett was awarded his first career Summit League offensive player-of-the-week award after scoring the game-winning goal against IPFW.

IPFW was leading the conference standings at the time and the win gave Oakland its first Summit League win this season.

Barrett also had a team-high two shots against Michigan last week.

Oakland’s senior goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt earned his seventh career Summit League defensive player-of-the-week award after shutting out IPFW.

Hildebrandt made three saves and earned his first shutout of theseason. He also made 14 saves in a double-overtime loss against Michigan. 

Around the Summit League

Western Illinois was able to top Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis 1-0 in an overtime Summit League win.

Alexis Dominguez scored his first goal of the season, leading Western to victory.

The win improves the Leathernecks to 7-5-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play, while IUPUI lost its first Summit League match this season. IUPUI now stands at 4-7-2 overall and 1-1-1 in conference.

Drake beat Oral Roberts in a non-conference match 3-2.

The Golden Eagles dug themselves a hole early, falling behind 2-0 in the first half, but they were unable to complete the comeback.

Thomas Schermoly scored both goals for Oral Roberts and the loss drops the Golden Eagles to 4-8 overall. Drake improves to 9-4-1 this season.

Rob Mortell can be reached at 581-7942 or rdmortell@eiu.edu.