Senior Casey Welage scored and assisted on a second goal as Eastern Illinois picked up the first win for first-year head coach Ruy Vaz with a 3-2 decision over Northern Illinois on Tuesday night.

EIU improved to 1-3-1 on the season with the win while NIU dropped to 3-3-1.

Welage scored the first goal of the match in the 21st minute with a shot to the high right corner of the goal.

He would assist the Panthers second goal of the match just three minutes later as Shion Hayashi scored putting EIU up 2-0 at the break with his 24th minute tally.

NIU scored just four minutes into the second half as Vance Sheffield scored in the 49th minute.

The Panthers tacked on an important insurance goal in the 76th minute as Gui Gragnano put EIU up 3-1 with an assist by Ben Griffis.

The Gragnano goal proved vital as the Huskies scored one more time in the final 21 seconds on a goal by Nico Angulo.

Welage, Hayashi and Adam Boykin each had two shots on goal for the Panthers. Franco Barba ended the match with five saves.