The Eastern men’s soccer team was defeated 3-1 in its final non-conference matchup of the season against the Cincinnati Bearcats on Tuesday evening.

In a game that did not mean much regarding postseason implications, the Panthers’ record falls to 5-10-1 on the season, but they remain 2-3 in Summit League play. Cincinnati improves to 9-6-1.

The scoring started in the 11th minute for Cincinnati with a penalty kick goal from Adam Wilson, his fifth goal of the season.

He is now tied with teammate Ryan Melink for the most goals on the team.

Cincinnati’s JJ Iroh drew the penalty in the box to give Wilson the opportunity for the penalty kick.

The Bearcats struck again in the 34th minute with Daniel Oginni putting his fourth goal of the season into the back of the net.

Patrick Nielsen sent Oginni a long lead ball, which he tracked down and beat Eastern goalkeeper Mike Novotny one on one. This was assist number two on the season for Nielsen.

Mohamed Elmardi had two shots on goal in the first half in the 32nd and 38th minutes, but he was unable to beat Novotny.

Cincinnati took a 2-0 lead into halftime. The Bearcats held a 7-3 advantage in shots at the half and had five shots on goal, while Eastern had zero.

Senior Tim Pieper, freshman Yann Nsoga and redshirt senior Gabriel Puga had the Panther shots in the first half.

Cincinnati started off the second half strong with two shots on goal from Jonny Williams that were both saved by Novotny.

Eastern earned its first shot on goal in the game in the 60th minute with a shot from freshman Jonathan Huerta, but it was saved by Cincinnati goalkeeper Pedro Diaz.

The third goal for the Bearcats came in the 67th minute from Williams — his first of the season.

The assist on Williams’ goal came from David Sanz, who just missed a goal of his own a minute before after his shot bounced off the near post following a Williams’ cross. Williams finished with a team-high in shots and shots on goal with five shots and three on goal.

The Eastern goal came in the 74th minute from Huerta for his first career as a Panther.

The goal came on a free kick over the wall of Cincinnati defenders from 20-yards out.

The two shots on goal were a career high for Huerta, who has seen time in all 16 games including 10 starts.

Eastern registered five shots and one on goal in the second half giving them eight shots in the game.

Huerta, sophomore Trevor Kerns, senior Davis Wegmann and sophomore Tyler Massa were the other Panthers to record shots in the game.

The Bearcats had six shots in the second half with three of them on goal.

Novotny finished with five saves in the match, and Diaz finished with one.

Eastern will travel to IUPUI for its last game of the season with serious postseason implications on the line in The Summit League.

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