The Eastern men’s soccer team captured its first victory of the 2013 season Sunday as red-shirt sophomore Garet Christianson scored off a free kick in the second overtime period to give the Panthers a 2-1 victory over Oral Roberts.

It was the striker’s sixth goal of the season, and it came in Eastern’s fourth Summit League matchup, leaving the team with just two more matches with which to stake a claim for the conference postseason tournament.

“It’s a huge relief, no matter how you look at it; winning games is what it’s all about,” Eastern coach Adam Howarth said. “I think it gives the guys something to build on.”

After letting in a goal against the run of play midway through the first half, the Panther’s rallied with a goal from junior midfielder Jake Brillhart.

“My immediate thought was, ‘We just need one more, one doesn’t matter, we need three points,’” Brillhart said.

The match would remain tied at one goal apiece until the end of regulation.

With just 51 seconds left in the game, Christianson was fouled while on a run near the edge of the penalty area. The Iowan stepped up to the ball and slotted it past the goalkeeper to give Eastern the victory.

“Stepping up to that free kick, (junior forward Tayron Martin) just told me to do it like I do in practice; so, I just did like I do in practice, and it went in,” Christianson said.

Oral Roberts (4-6-2) was undefeated through both of its conference matches before losing to Eastern (1-9-2) at Lakeside Field.

After losing to the Panthers, the Golden Eagles are now 0-5-1 in away matches.

The Golden Eagles were without red-shirt freshman midfielder Edgardo Mira for the game with Eastern. Mira is the leading scorer for Oral Roberts.

Junior Will Butler and freshman Nick Wegrzynowicz played at outside back and allowed Eastern to force the issue in the attacking third of the field, Howarth said.

Additionally, the Panther’s link-up play in the midfield helped to dislodged an Oral Roberts team that Howarth said came to Charleston hoping to steal points by not putting a lot of emphasis on attacking.

“They really came in to sit and try to sneak a victory, and they almost did that,” Howarth said.

Red-shirt freshman goalkeeper Ben Feltes mishandled a back pass from red-shirt sophomore defender Spencer Filosa. The ball fell to sophomore Alex White, who knocked the ball in off the back post in the 30th minute, scoring for Oral Roberts.

The goal was the Golden Eagles only shot of the half.

As the clock ticked past the hour-mark, Howarth started to push his midfielders higher up the pitch, leaving only one back in a defensive position.

Brillhart spent most of the match exploiting the considerable space he was allotted by junior leftback Casey Cantor.

“I was just trying to find space outside,” Brillhart said. “We were using our outside backs to get forward and take the defender away. Also, in the midfield, when the ball comes across, it allows me to cut across middle.”

That is exactly what he did in the 65th minute.

Will Butler pushed up from the back and won the ball in the attacking third. Brillhart made a slashing run across the backline, pulling Cantor out of position. Butler lifted the ball over the heads of the Oral Roberts defense and found Brillhart, who took a quick touch and fired the ball into the goal with his right foot.

The game went into overtime with both teams struggling to fashion an opportunity that would allow the winning goal to be scored.

With less than a minute to be played in extra time, Eastern broke quickly on the counter-attack and found Christianson whose touch led him straight into centerback and captain Trevor Laffoon.

Laffoon stuck out a foot and fouled Christianson, which brought on a yellow card and a free kick, leading to the game-winning goal.

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