OMAHA, Neb. -- Eastern Illinois men's soccer was defeated 4-0 on the road by the Omaha Mavericks on Saturday morning. With the loss, EIU ends the season with an overall record of 1-12-3 and a Summit League record of 0-7-1.
Omaha got offensive penetration early, but EIU was able to lock down defensively for the first 16 minutes. The Mavericks scored a goal in the 17th minute when Tevin Rochester found the back of the net off of a corner kick. Omaha got another good look in the 23rd minute, but
Chad Hamler was able to deflect the ball away to prevent a clean look. EIU's best chance of the half came in the 30th minute when
Munir Sherali found himself alone in the box, but the Panthers were unable to get the ball to him. The Panthers were able to get off three shots and afford themselves three corner kick opportunities in the first half, but were unable to take advantage as Omaha took a 1-0 lead into the half.
Omaha increased their lead in the 49th minute when Rochester scored his second goal of the match. The Panthers found offensive penetration in the second half, but were limited to just two shots and one corner kick. Omaha's Kenji Mboma Dem found the back of the net in the 88th minute, and Andreas Hermansson converted on a penalty kick in the 90th minute after a Jude Spallinger foul in the box to make the final score 4-0.
Casey Welage led the Panthers with two shots.Â
Nikola Salopek,
Nana Nnuro-Frimpong and
Julian Smith all also each recorded a shot for EIU. Â
Chad Smith played all 90 minutes at goalkeeper and recorded five saves to give him a total of 88 for the season, the highest mark by an EIU goalkeeper since Mike Novotny recorded 91 in 2017.
