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CHARLESTON, Ill. – In a game that featured numerous quality scoring chances for both teams, Western Michigan managed to score the lone goal of the game in the 76th minute to defeat Eastern Illinois men's soccer Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Field.
The Broncos' Shane Lyons scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season when he got a header touch on a right-to-left serve into the 18-yard box to deflect the ball into the left side of the net after WMU (5-2-1) played a corner kick short.
Both goalkeepers made some quality saves and had a teammate account for a team save to keep the game scoreless at the time. Eastern's
Sean Molony finished with six saves. Western Michigan's Sean Lewis was credited with five.
“I thought we had a few more chances in the second half,” EIU head coach
Adam Howarth said. “We changed some things around a little bit. But then we gave away a little bit, too, defensively. You can't fault the effort and we certainly had enough chances. Western Michigan is a good team and took us out of our game in the first half. Maybe a little lapse in concentration on the corner kick led to the goal. It could have gone either way. It was one of those 1-0 games that could have gone to either team.”
The WMU goal ended EIU's shutout streak at 345 consecutive minutes dating back to the beginning of the 1-0 win against Western Illinois on Sept. 15. It was also the first goal scored by a visiting team in the three games at Lakeside Field this season.
The Panthers (3-4) have been shutout in each of their four losses and blanked the opposition in each of their three wins. Sunday's victory was WMU's first in five all-time meetings in series history.
Kyle Bullock,
Ryan Child,
Alex Harrison and
Jonathan Hinds all were in position for a scoring chance in the second half for EIU. Lewis was in good position to make a quick-reaction save on a one-touch shot by Child in the 60th minute after a right-to-left cross by Bullock.
About five minutes later, Harrison advanced the ball up the right flank towards the right post. Lewis made the save near the post and Child was in position to take advantage of the subsequent rebound. Child's header was kept out of the net when it was knocked down by a WMU field player on the left side of the six-yard box.
Moments later in the 67th minute, Hinds made a nice run and advanced the ball up the left flank to the top of the 18-yard box. He directed his shot attempt left-to-right diagonally across the box but missed just wide of the right post.
In the 72nd minute, Bullock had lots of space to work with when he gained possession in the center of the field on the attack. His shot attempt from the inside edge of the 18-yard box was also wide right.
Meanwhile, WMU forced Molony to make a good save near the right post in the 51st minute and hit the crossbar in the 61st minute. Oliver Mayer accounted for each shot attempt, forcing Molony to make a play with a header and later floating a 30-yard off the bar.
Western Michigan also nearly took the lead in the game's opening minutes. In the third minute, the Broncos had three quality shots in a lightning-quick scramble in front of the net. Molony gave up a rebound after making an initial save and
Trevor Kohlrus kept Lyons' subsequent header for going in the net. Joseph Beshara missed wide right but the shot got a piece of an EIU defender and led to a corner kick.
Western Michigan led the shot count 18-15 and had an 8-6 edge in shots on goal. Eastern had a 4-3 advantage in corner kicks.
