Eastern falls to Northern in Dekalb

Northern Illinois’ goalless streak stretched to 435 total minutes before the Huskies’ junior forward Isaac Kannah ended the drought by beating Eastern goalkeeper Ben Feltes to put his team up 1-0.

The Huskies went on to defeat Eastern 3-0 in a non-conference matchup Tuesday night in DeKalb.

Eastern (1-10-2) was not run off the field by Northern on the stat sheet. The Panthers tied on the number of shots taken in the match and also had more penalty kick opportunities in the game.

Eastern went back to a faster lineup that head coach Adam Howarth has used in recent weeks. Junior midfielder Jake Brillhart generated two shot opportunities in keeping with his trend toward positive offensive production in the team.

Kannah scored two goals in the game and put two shots on target for Northern.

Eastern started the match on the right foot as the team had several possessions that ended in offside calls.

However, Northern regained the advantage, and Kannah managed to take the ball off a Panther defender just inside the box and then finished a shot to give the Huskies a single goal advantage in the 24th minute.

A period of parity ensued with both teams making a concerted effort to score the second goal.

Northern managed to break through past Eastern as Kannah scored his second goal in the 45th minute.

He managed to get on the end of a ball crossed into the box to put Northern up two goals before going into the locker room.

The Panthers came out with the early advantage as the team created chances while the Huskies struggling to get forward and affect play in Eastern’s defensive third.

However, a play in the 63rd minute saw junior defender Dusty Page finish a corner that he managed to turn towards goal from just outside the six-yard box.

Eastern struggled to create more chances after conceding the third goal of the match.

Play deteriorated as the Panthers committed several fouls in the last half-hour of the contest.

Northern managed to coast to a 3-0 win, pushing Eastern over the 10-loss total for the 2013 season.

Next on the schedule is league-leading Denver for the Panthers scheduled for Sunday at 7 p.m. in Coloarado.

The Panthers found their first victory last weekend in another Summit League matchup.

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