Eastern men’s soccer won a game in a conference tournament for the first time since 2007 where it beat Drake University in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

The Panthers won 3-1 on penalties against Liberty University on Sunday, Nov. 5, off of a great performance from junior goalkeeper Chad Smith.

Smith had nine saves in this game, his highest for the season, and the second highest of his career behind a 13-save performance against the University of Dayton last year.

The Panthers took eight shots, three on goal, compared to Liberty’s 26 shots, nine on goal.

Seven of the Panthers played to full 110 minutes in the game: Smith, junior defender William Bruce, freshman defender Jake McConnery, senior midfielder Felipe Kerr Lourenco, senior forward Sam Eccles, redshirt sophomore midfielder Anton van Efferink, and freshman forward/midfielder Kyle Ward.

During the penalties Smith was able to save two of Liberty’s four penalties.

The penalty scorers for Eastern were Eccles, Lourenco, and fifth year senior defender Maxwell Allen.

If Eastern were to win its next match it would be the first time that it has ever won two games in a conference tournament. Prior to 1994 the conference it was in did not have a conference tournament at the end of the season and sent to regular season winner to the NCAA tournament.