Tuesday saw the Eastern men’s soccer team play its final nonconference match of the season, a 2-0 loss to Belmont. 

It was the Panthers’ second-straight nonconference match as they now have two conference matches remaining in the regular season. 

On Tuesday, Belmont grabbed a 2-0 lead before halftime. They opened the scoring in the 25th minute when Liam O’Brian found the back of the net for his eighth goal of the season. 

He was assisted on the goal by Case Cox and Esteban Lestido. 

The Bruins added to their lead right before halftime when Niccolo Dagnoni got scored in the 42nd minute. 

Eastern goalkeeper Chad Smith recorded five saves in the first half to go along with the two goals allowed. 

Mac Van Oudt took over in net for the second half, and along with the Eastern defense held Belmont scoreless for the final 45 minutes. 

The Eastern offense also outshot Belmont in the second half, but was unable to break into the scoring column. 

Eastern got off 8 shots in the second half compared to Belmont’s 3 shots. 

The Panthers managed to outshoot Belmont for the match 13-12 and each team recorded 8 shots on goal. 

Belmont goalkeeper Drew Romig recorded 8 saves to pick up his eighth shutout of the season. 

Forward Lenni Kirschner led the team with 4 shots, all of which were on goal. 

Forward Maxwell Allen had 2 shots on goal and defender Trey Gora and midfielder Julian Smith each had 1 shot on goal. 

Van Oudt recorded 1 save in his 45 minutes of action. 

Eastern will be back in action Oct. 30 when they play Western Illinois on the road.

Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or ajtumino@eiu.edu.