St. CHARLES, Mo. - The Eastern Illinois men's soccer team (3-8-4, 2-4-2 OVC) battled to a 1-1 draw with the Lions of Lindenwood (6-4-6, 3-1-4 OVC) to return home with an important point in the fight for a spot in the OVC tournament. With both goals being scored in the initial half, goalkeeper
Chad Smith saved a second half penalty kick to help the Panthers secure the draw.
EIU started the match looking to keep the ball on the attacking third of the field in order to create scoring opportunities. The Lions responded with Cameron Caldwell scoring the first goal of the afternoon off a header to give Lindenwood the 1-0 lead in the 29th minute of the match. Ten minutes later,
Julian Smith crossed a ball into the second post of the Lion's defense. Forward
Kyle Ward headed it back towards the pk spot to find
Jared Cornejo, who tapped it in to conclude the play that would give EIU the equalizer. At halftime, the Panthers and Lions were tied 1-1.
It was Cornejo's first goal of the season for the Panthers.
The second half started and ended with Lindenwood dominating the offensive actions. The Lions wanted to take advantage of the home field to reach what would have been their fourth conference win. However, the Panthers were able to hold off Lindenwood's attempt all the way to the final whistle to pick up the road point. The best chance of the half for the Lions came with thirteen minutes left in the game, when goalkeeper
Chad Smith saved a penalty kick that was shot low left. Because of the fault that originated the pk, a red card was shown to EIU, so the Panthers needed to play one man down for the remainder of the match.
Smith ended the match posting four saves in net, while Lindenwood outshot EIU 15-9.
Up next: The Panthers will return home to host Southern Indiana on Thursday, 26th. Kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m.
