The Eastern men’s soccer team’s hopes of being in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament have been dashed, following a loss to Belmont on Tuesday.

The Panthers lost to the Belmont Bruins on the road by a score of 3-0 in Nashville, Tenn.

Eastern now holds a record of 7-8-1 with one game remaining in the 2011 regular season, while Belmont is now 6-9-2 overall this season.

Despite losing 3-0, the Panthers still out-shot the Bruins 13-9.

Freshman Will Butler paced the Panthers with four shots, while freshman Tayron Martin had three shots of his own.

Panthers, however, only had three saves, while the Bruins had five. The Panthers did, however, have less fouls with 11, while Belmont had 14.

The Panthers had three corners while the Bruins had five, but the Panthers also had less offside penalties with four while Belmont had seven.

Sophomore goalkeeper Tyler Kelly took the loss for the Panthers, while junior Evan Turner logged 11 minutes in the game before he got a red card.

The road loss now brings the Panthers to 5-7 when away from Lakeside Field this season.

So far this season when on the road, the Panthers have lost to Bradley University 1-2 in overtime in Peoria, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville 1-3 and Evansville University 2-3 in overtime in Evansville, Ind..

They have also lost to Niagara University 0-2 in Green Bay, Wisc., Western Illinois University in Macomb 0-3, University of Missouri-Kansas City in Kansas City, Mo., 1-3, and Belmont University all while on the road this season.

Teams they have beaten on the road are Northwestern University, Central Arkansas University, Dayton University, Loyola University, and Western Michigan University.

The Panthers are also 1-3-1 in the Summit League and have now lost two consecutive games so far.

The Panthers final game is on the road at Fort Wayne, Ind. where Eastern will take on the Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons at 7 p.m Saturday on the road.

Grant Truccano can be reached at 581-7942 or gatruccano@eiu.edu