Eastern’s sub-par start to the 2002 season, will face a major middle of the season test with road and conference games starting to appear on the schedule.

The first step for a fresh start to the season will be at Ft. Wayne, Ind., when Eastern will meet IUPU-Ft. Wayne.

The Panthers (2-4) will go into Fort Wayne looking to turn their season around with a victory over the (2-6) squad from IUPU.

This game is the first in a large stretch of important games, with more urgency being placed upon the team to starting winning games on a more consistent basis.

Panther head coach Adam Howarth said the team now understands the holes that it needs to fill after starting the season slower than they wanted to.

No longer can the excuse be made that early season mistakes are OK as long as they are fixed soon.

Howarth said he understands there have been early problems, but he is also proud of the effort level the team has run on.

“The team is a good bunch of guys, sure they have their off days but it is encouraging that they put this kind of effort forward,” Howarth said.

Even though the Panthers have been competitive in their early games, the team has faced lapses in offensive momentum.

While the defense has held strong, for the most part, the mistakes made by the defensive unit have been glaring at times.

“The defense has done a good job so far, but we need to eliminate the dumb mistakes,” Howarth said.

However, as the team hopes to fix the deficiencies in the day-to-day play, a demanding schedule awaits the Panthers. After this weekend’s home game against Illinois-Chicago, the team will go on the road for three games and then come home for five games.

With the three games ahead on the road, the team will hope to gain a little momentum from those games and carry it over to the five games at home. Even though it may be a little more difficult for the team to gain momentum on the road, things would look quite a bit better if it could win a few on the road and come home in a much better state.

“Winning on the road would definetly build some momentum for us when we come home,” said Howarth. “But we are also looking forward to the first conference game, which we need to win to get off to a good start in the Missouri Valley Conference.”

The Panthers will have two more non-conference games, including games against the Flames and Saint Louis before a flurry of conference games. The first of which will be on Oct. 4 when Eastern will travel to Western Kentucky.

One advantage the Panthers hold is the five home games upcoming on the schedule will all be against conference competition. The first two games in the MVC will be on the road, but after that the Panthers will be holding some important conference matches at Lakeside Field.

Optimism and anticipation are high within the Panthers coming into these conference matches.

“We are looking forward to playing better in these conference games,” Howarth said. “A lot of them are coming up and we need to play well.”

The test will be a considerable one, but Eastern is hoping to turn around a season after a slow start has put the team in a hole. The middle of the season will be a time for Eastern to prove itself against some tough competition.