The Panthers men’s soccer team got a good start to the season by beating Governors State University 1-0.

Now they look ahead to the Bradley University Braves where they hope to have the same success.

“Bradley’s a good team and we got to be ready for them,” junior goalkeeper Chad Smith said. “I mean it’s a big rivalry, it has been for 20 years. Oaks [Oakley] has been talking about it since last year. It’s Illinois versus Illinois and we have an opportunity to show what we can do and what we’re able to do.”

According to the Eastern Athletic Department the Panthers have gone against the Braves 32 times and have a record of 9-19-3 against them. The last time Eastern defeated Bradley was in 2019.

The Braves are 1-0-1 on the year with a 2-1 win against Chicago State University, a team from Eastern’s conference, and a 0-0 tie against the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

According to Head Coach Joshua Oakley, to win this game the Panthers will need to control the ball better and be able to finish scoring opportunities.

In Eastern’s game against Governors State they had eight total shots, including four shots on goal, and only converted one of them.

Oakley also said that it’s okay that the team’s finishing wasn’t the best because it’s early in the season, and this team will be able to score goals throughout the season.

The last time Eastern won their first game of the season was in 2018.

“Everyone’s excited,” senior forward Sam Eccles said. “Coming off the win always helps the team morale [so to speak]. We’re just working hard to get better every day and hopefully grind out a result on Sunday.”

According to Oakley practices have been good this week, but not up to the standard that he would like, but it’s to be expected because the season just started.

Eastern will play Bradley University on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Lakeside Field.

Luther Yoder can be reached at 581-2812 or at densportsdesk@gmail.com.