As the men’s soccer season nears its end, Eastern clings to 3rd place in the Summit League while Denver continues to set the pace.

Denver (11-2-2, 3-0-1 SL) looked to be in slump early last week, dropping a match to Maryland by a score of 1-0 just over a week after being dismissed 3-0 against Virginia.

In response to the scoreless two-game skid, the Pioneers returned to Summit League play with a 4-0 rout of Western Illinois (2-9-3, 0-3-1 SL) on Saturday.

Western Illinois posted just five shots in the match, none of which were on goal, allowing Denver’s sophomore goalkeepers Will Palmquist to record a zero-save shutout.

Both teams next games take place today, as the Leathernecks face Detroit Mercy at noon and Denver suits up against Saint Louis at 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, despite sub-par non-conference records, both Omaha and Eastern continue to tread in the upper tier of the Summit League.

Omaha (4-6-1, 2-1 SL) did not play a conference opponent in the past week, but the team split its two games, losing in 3-1 fashion to Bradley last Tuesday and rebounding for a 2-0 win over Florida Gulf Coast.

After Omaha scored on its own goal against Bradley in the loss, junior goalkeeper Ugo Tritz returned from riding the pine against FGCU and managed to stop all five shots the Eagles threw on goal.

Omaha next takes on California State Fullerton today at 7 p.m. before hitting the pitch alongside Oral Roberts Saturday at 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, Eastern (3-7-4, 1-0-2 SL) continues to tip-toe to conference points with strong defense and light scoring, allowing just one goal and scoring just two in three Summit League matchups.

One of those three games came this past weekend against Oral Roberts (6-4-3, 0-1-2 SL) which ended in a 1-1 draw.

Eastern went down 1-0 just over six minutes into the game, but the Panthers tied it back up in the 75th minute from a corner kick opportunity that allowed sophomore Shady Omar to put it into the net.

Oral Roberts matches up with Tulsa today at 7 p.m. before facing Omaha this weekend.

Eastern faces Milwaukee tomorrow at 6 p.m. and takes on Fort Wayne Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Mastodons of Fort Wayne (8-6-1, 1-2 SL) come off a tame one-win, non-conference opponent week with a 1-0 victory over Cincinnati last Tuesday.

Freshman Alex Frank notched the lone goal in the 23rd minute for Fort Wayne.

The Mastodons will play IUPUI today at 7 p.m. ahead of their slate against Eastern this weekend.

Oscar Rzodkiewicz can be reached at 581-2812 or orrzodkiewicz@eiu.edu