Men’s soccer head coach Adam Howarth will have some new faces on his squad next season as the team announced the signing of five new recruits to help the Panthers build on their 12-6-1 record last season.

Howarth, who will be entering his second year as Eastern’s coach, was able to address his team’s defensive needs early in the recruiting season. Defenders Lee Burke (Howell, N.J.), Ryan Luckett (Edwardsville) and Dan Flahive (Chicago) will all look to strengthen the Panthers in the back.

“We have signed some quality kids from quality programs,” Howarth said. “And anytime you have kids like that, they are capable of stepping on the field at this level and competing right away.

“We wanted to add depth to our defense – that was a major concern and I think we did that.”

Another void that needed to be filled for Eastern was at the position of goalkeeper. The Panthers lost their top three goalkeepers from last season and were lucky enough to sign Matt Perrigo (Franklin, Wisc.) to fill the empty space.

“Matt is very conscientious,” Howarth said. “He played in a lot of showcases in Illinois, so I could see him play and has kept in contact with us all along. He is a big, strong kid and I see him really challenging for the starting keeper job.”

Howarth was also able to sign midfielder Kurt Krupa (New Lenox). Krupa, who last season helped his Lincoln Way High School team to a second place finish in the Class AA state competition, has strong ties to current Eastern players Tim Fredin and Aaron Aguirre.

“I think knowing Tim and Aaron really made Matt feel comfortable with the surroundings here,” Howarth said. “He is a really hard worker and comes from a great club in the Chicago Magic and a great high school in Lincoln Way.”

In his first recruiting year, Howarth was able to have a little luck on his side. Burke, who will be coming to Eastern from New Jersey, was just looking at Illinois schools since his parents would be moving to Illinois later this year. And Perrigo had gone out of his way to contact the Eastern program to let him know that he was interested in playing for the Panthers, something Howarth attributes to the team’s success.

“Any time you have a successful year like we had, it always makes recruiting easier,” Howarth said. “I think I was lucky too because we are returning 20 or 21 players from last year’s team. We had the chance to really select who we wanted to bring in.”

And although Howarth called his first recruiting experience, “fun, but tedious,” he does not plan on folding the tents just yet.

“We’re still not done,” he said. “We still want to go out and look for players who can help our program even more.”

Howarth and the Panthers are currently enjoying success in their spring season, sporting a 3-1 record with impressive wins over Louisville (1-0), Aurora University (6-0) and Valporaso (7-0). Eastern will continue its spring schedule as they host Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.