One thing the Panthers will have to their advantage this weekend is continuity. 

At this weekend’s 50-Years of Men’s Soccer tournament, both of Eastern’s scheduled opponents have head coaches who are each in their first year.

Loyola and Western Michigan replaced their coaches for the 2013 season and that means 14-year Eastern coach Adam Howarth has the advantage in terms of experience.

Loyola (2-1) coach Neil Jones might have just two wins under his belt at the helm of a collegiate program, but he also has a NCAA Division I national championship on his coaching resume.

Jones was an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of California-Santa Barbara, for the 2006 season when the team won the College Cup. 

He then moved to Northwestern and helped the Wildcats win back-to-back Big Ten championships as an associate head coach.  

For Western Michigan (0-4), its first-year head coach is not new to campus. Chad Wiseman is a former player and graduate. 

He led Western Michigan in scoring for three out of his four years in Kalamazoo. 

Wiseman coached Olivet College to the top-25 in NCAA Division III soccer while amassing a 53-35-6 record. However, he is yet to collect a win for the Broncos.

“They’re both first-year coaches, but very experienced in terms of coaching at a high level,” Howarth said.

The Eastern alum said the biggest advantage will come not from who is on the sideline, but from who is in the stands. 

“The biggest advantage is we’re at home,” Howarth said.

This weekend’s tournament is meant to celebrate the half-century of men’s soccer at Eastern.  

The Panthers enter the tournament 0-2 after dropping both matches in the Dayton Flyer Classic last weekend. 

They were beaten 3-1 by Lipscomb and then gave away a chance at a victory over Northern Kentucky by allowing a goal in the closing stages of the second half. 

The Panthers went on to lose less than two minutes into sudden-death overtime.

But Howarth said he does not feel that it is a fair representation of the product his team delivered on the field.

“We should have gotten something out of it, at the very least a tie,” Howarth said.  “We had the (Northern Kentucky) game won.”

Howarth and his team went back the drawing board this week to prepare for the tournament it will play host to this weekend.

Junior forward Tayron Martin said the effort started defensively this week in drills Howarth said were designed to make the team work on attacking and defending the goal in pressure situations.

But as a forward, Martin is just focused on his ability to go to goal.

“Personally, it’s just about creating chances for myself,” Martin said. 

The Texan scored the Panthers’ lone goal in the match with Northern Kentucky.  

He said he has had two real chances at goal already this year and turned one of them into a goal for Eastern.

First-kick against Loyola is at 4:30 p.m. Friday on Lakeside Field and Howarth said he feels like a large crowd will be on hand for the match.

“We’re excited just to have a tournament,” Howarth said.  “I think we’re looking forward to a good crowd.”

Michael Spencer can be reached at 581-2812 or tmspencer2@eiu.edu.