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Eastern Illinois University Athletics

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Lara_16
0
Eastern Illinois EIU (5-11-1, 2-4 Summit)
1
Winner IUPUI IUPUI (2-15-1, 1-5 Summit)
Eastern Illinois EIU
(5-11-1, 2-4 Summit)
0
Final
1
IUPUI IUPUI
(2-15-1, 1-5 Summit)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Eastern Illinois EIU 0 0 0
IUPUI IUPUI 0 1 1

Game Recap: Men's Soccer |

Men's Soccer Falls 1-0, Earns Postseason Berth

The EIU men's soccer team fell on the road 1-0 to IUPUI, but still managed to qualify for the Summit League tournament.

Box Score | Tournament Bracket

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - IUPUI netted a goal in the last minutes of the match to down EIU men's soccer  1-0 in the Panthers' final match of the 2016 regular season. Following the loss the Panthers fall to 5-11-1 overall and 2-4-0 in the Summit League while IUPUI earns their first conference win improving to 2-15-1 and 1-5-0 in the conference.

Despite the loss the Panthers will still qualify for the Summit League Championship tournament as the No. 4 seed. EIU managed to earn a spot in the tournament after beating out Fort Wayne and Oral Roberts in a three-way tiebreaker for fourth place.

This marks the first time the Panthers have earned a postseason tournament berth since 2008 when EIU was still a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Panthers have not qualified for the Summit League tournament since rejoining the league in 2011.

It was a whirlwind start to Saturday night's match as the Jaguars came out firing early in the first period. All four of IUPUI's first half shots on goal came within the first seven minutes of the match.

The Panther defense settled in after the quick tempo to start the match not allowing another shot on goal the rest of the half. EIU returned the favor throughout the first period with shots on goal from Jonathan Huerta, Marcus Menniti, and Kris Luke.

Both Mike Novotny and IUPUI's Josh Gray finished the first period with three saves each as EIU and the Jaguars went into halftime deadlocked at 0-0.

It was a defensive battle in the second period as both teams searched for that go ahead goal. 

IUPUI finally broke the tie late in the match as Uriel Macias had a shot blocked in the 85th minute. The blocked shot fell to the Jaguars' Pedro Valladao who sent a shot into the top right corner from 16 yards out to give IUPUI the 1-0 lead. 

The Panthers pushed hard for a tying goal in the dying minutes of the match. Christian Sosnowski and Alex Castaneda each recorded a shot along with a header from Novotny on an EIU corner, but the Panthers could not even up the score.

Novotny finished the match with five saves.

Huerta led the team with three shots, one on goal while Sosnowski finished the match with two shots, one on goal. 

Julian Montoya, Menniti, and Luke all recorded one shot on goal in the match. The Jaguars were led by Sean Siasa and Valladao who each had two shots on goal.

The Panthers will now head to the Summit League tournament to face No. 1 seed Omaha in the opening round on Thursday (Nov. 10). 
 
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