The Eastern men’s soccer team is 2-4 for the season. This team’s record does not show the competitiveness, the offensive production and the defensive presence that the program has displayed throughout the season.

Three of the six games Eastern has played this year have been decided by one goal.

Against Ohio State, the Panthers scored two goals late in the second half. In the 71st minute, redshirt senior Christian Sosnowski scored his first goal of the season and connected on the first shot on goal.

Junior Shady Omar scored on a penalty kick to make the score 2-2 in the 83rd minute. The Panthers were not able to hold on as the Buckeyes scored the game-winning goal in the 90th minute for a 3-2 win.

In the last two years, Eastern has lost to Bradley 1-0 on two occasions. This year the Panthers flipped the script and won 1-0, scoring in the 67th minute on the first career goal for redshirt freshman Munir Sherali. This was the first time the Panthers won against Bradley since 2009.

Against Northwestern, the Panthers held the Wildcats to seven total shots for the game. The difference in that game was Northwestern connected on an opportunity to win the game 1-0.

In soccer a one-goal difference shows that it is a tough game to win or lose. Most soccer games are usually decided by one goal. The fact that the Panthers were able to lose by one goal to Ohio State and Northwestern shows that there is fight in this Panther team.

In 2018, the men’s soccer team had seven players score a goal. This year, in only the first six games, the Panthers have six different players that have scored a goal: Sosnowski, Omar, Sherali, Cameron Behm, Alex Castaneda and Nate Francke.

Head coach Kiki Lara has talked about how he wanted his players to make the most of their opportunities on the offensive side of the field. His team so far has had different players on different nights able to be offensive weapons as all scorers only have one goal each on the season.

On the defensive side, the Panthers have had returning veterans in senior Edger Mesa and redshirt junior goalkeeper Jonathan Burke.

Also in the back have been freshman newcomers Delphy Sabu and Quinn Rechner. To begin the season, the Panthers allowed three goals each in the first three games. Granted the Panthers played against Ohio State and No.19 Xavier.

Xavier beat No. 2 Akron in the first game of the season and has been ranked as high as 11th in the country. Ohio State is currently third in the Big 10 conference standings.

The defense has rebounded well in the last three games, only allowing one goal against Northwestern.

Burkes goal against average for the season has dropped down to 1.67. Burke also has recorded 21 saves and two shutouts so far this season.

So yes, the men’s soccer record is 2-4, but that is only a record. You have to dig deeper, research and look into the statistics to find out how this Panther team has actually played this season.

The men’s soccer team plays Belmont next Tuesday at home. The game will begin at 3 p.m. at Lakeside Field.

Blake Faith can be reached at 581-2812 or bmfaith@eiu.edu.