Photo Gallery (by Dayton Simpson)
The Eastern Illinois Men's Soccer team emerged victorious in their season opener on Thursday night versus the University of Chicago.
This marks the first time since the 2018 season that the Panthers have started the year with a victory.
Tonight's match-up was scored as the first regular season game of 2024 for EIU as University of Chicago still waits to kick off their season.
A back and forth first half resulted in a 0-0 score as the only shot on goal came from University of Chicago at the seven-minute mark.
Eastern Illinois was able to capitalize off of their second half resurgence as
Sam Eccles assisted
Jackson Liley to put EIU ahead 1-0. Shortly after, Eccles found teammate
Kyle Kimberling for a tap in goal to further increase the lead to 2-0.
The Panthers offensive efforts did not stall there as junior
Casey Welage found the back of a net after a Chicago foul led to an EIU free kick with 10 minutes remaining.
This increased the Panther lead to 3-0 as EIU finished strong and closed out the game while holding their opponents scoreless.
Eastern Illinois now leads the series 1-0, as the match-up from a year ago was canceled.
