The Eastern men’s soccer team (1-1) went down two goals in the first half and was denied multiple chances in the closing minutes to drop its Monday afternoon game 2-1 against Lipscomb (2-0) at Lakeside Field.

Lipscomb’s first goal game in the 13th minute, when the initial shot was saved by Eastern’s goalkeeper Ben Feltes, but it redirected to eventual goal scorer Matt Kerridge who put it in the back of the net.

Minutes later, Lipscomb’s Omar Djabi struck the ball from 18 yards out past Feltes for a two-goal advantage after the 19-minute mark of the first half.

Eastern head coach Mark Hansen said his team started the game off very well, but then made a few mistakes that were proven costly.

“First half we didn’t react well to our mistakes as a team,” Hansen said.

Although there were a few mistakes, Hansen was happy with how his team played in its second home game of the season.

“As a whole we had a much better performance than we did on Saturday,” he said.

The Panthers opened their season with a 2-0 win against St. Francis (Ill.) on Saturday. It was the first time Eastern started with a season with a victory since 2011.

Sophomore Davis Wegmann scored his first goal of the season for Eastern a couple of minutes before the end of the opening half. His goal came off a free kick from 25 yards out that was buried to the top right corner of the net in the 43rd minute.

“I saw the goalie was on the opposite side of the goal so I put it on the other side,” Wegmann said.

The Decatur native made five starts last season, but did not score a goal. Monday’s goal against Lipscomb was Wegmann’s first career goal as a Panther.

Nick Wegrzynowicz initially drew the foul, but Wegmann took the free kick. That ended up as Eastern’s lone goal. Wegmann wants the team to play with intensity for the entire game.

“As a team we need to keep the intensity up the full 90 minutes,” he said.

Tony Meza and Jack Patrick both sat out Monday’s game after getting injured in Saturday’s 2-0 win over St. Francis. Hansen said both players should return in the near future.

“We held them out for precautionary reasons and we think that going forward they should be able to return very quickly,” Hansen said.

Up next for Eastern is its first away game, which comes against Central Arkansas at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Bill Stephens track/soccer complex in Conway, Ark.

Central Arkansas is currently 1-0 after beating the University of the Incarnate Word Sunday.

Mark Shanahan can be reached at 581-2812 or mmshanahan@eiu.edu.