Eastern’s men’s soccer team may have

dashed its postseason tournament hopes with a 2-0 loss to Oakland

Saturday.

On a cold, windy day at Lakeside

Field, the Panthers needed to win their last two Summit League

matches to secure a spot in the conference tournament, but it was

not to be.

Oakland scored almost immediately as

Josh Bennett scored in the second minute. The Golden Grizzlies

would be in control for the rest of the match.

Senior forward Ryan Child said it was

a very tough loss, especially since it was on Senior Day.

“I’m bitterly disappointed, to be

honest,” Child said. “We have a really strong senior class and it’s

just disappointing that we couldn’t finish it off with a really

good season.”

The Panthers struggled to be

productive offensively. They did not have a shot on goal until 14

minutes into the second half. Eastern was outshot 18-15 and only

four of Eastern’s 14 shots were put on frame.

Oakland added insult to injury with a

penalty kick by Johnny Dreshaj with 10 minutes left in the

match.

Head coach Adam Howarth said the team

is very disappointed with how it played in such an important

match.

“I think we underperformed today,”

Howarth said. “We really didn’t get anything clicking today for

whatever reason.”

Freshman defenseman Spencer Filosa

left the match early in the first half with a head injury. Howarth

said he was not sure of the extent, just that Filosa was headed to

the hospital for stitches.

To make the tournament, the Panthers

must win their final conference match against Indiana

University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne, and then their fate

rests in the hands of three other teams.

Either Indiana University-Purdue

University at Indianapolis or Oakland will make the tournament

because they play each other. Then Oral Roberts must lose to first

place Western Illinois. If that happens the Panthers will be in a

three-way tie for fourth place and the final tournament spot.

The Panthers play Tuesday for a

non-conference match against Belmont.

Rob Mortell can be reached at

581-7944 or at rdmortell@eiu.edu.