Panther men’s soccer coach Adam Howarth should be concerned because his program is projected to finish last in the Missouri Valley Conference, but he’s not at all.

The third-year coach has proved his critics wrong before by leading the 2000 team (projected to finish 11th out of 12) to a record of (12-6-1). The overwhelming feeling around Lakeside Field is that lightning will strike twice with the 2002 team.

In fact, Howarth is grateful for the ranking.

“I’d like to thank all the coaches for not voting for us and motivating us at the same time!”

Junior forward Jason Thompson feels the same: “We really laugh at the fact that we’re picked to finish last because that’s such bull. Maybe we deserve it with the season we had last year, but we really like being underrated.”

However, the journey to the top of the conference mountain becomes a larger ascent with the graduation of forward Derrick Perry, who will be playing professionally in the Major Indoor Soccer League.

The 2001 second team All-MVC player accounted for 14 of the Panther’s 32 total goals.

“We’ll obviously need to replace those goals but we’ve got some fast freshman on the outside,” Howarth said.

With that type of talent departing, all eyes turn to Jason Thompson for leadership, who is a 2002 preseason All-MVC pick and the active career leading scorer.

“I have really always accepted a leadership role on the team, even when I was a freshman,” he said.

After recording a season record 21 goals in 2000, Thompson struggled to get the ball in the net against double and triple-teams that defenses geared to stop him.

“He’s always going to be a marked man till he graduates,” Howarth said.

With seven starters returning, the hope is that some of the attention will be deflected from Thompson.

“We’ve really developed some young guys that are going to be awesome!” Howarth said.

One of the young guns is freshman Jimmy Klatter.

The Geneva native finished his high school career with 55 goals and 33 assists.

“Jimmy will come in and contribute right away and adds much needed speed,” Howarth said.

Eastern entered the 2001 season with one of the youngest teams in the league. The group of mostly underclassmen had a solid start in non-conference play going into the month of October winning four their first six games. That’s when the bottom fell out.

A streak of eight consecutive losses by a combined score of 24-6 including four consecutive shutouts and suddenly whatever momentum that existed in September had vanished by the beginning of November.

“We really didn’t get any breaks and soccer is all about luck,” Howarth said. “We lost five of those games by only one goal.”

What remained after finishing the season with a two-game winning streak was a disappointing (6-10) record.

After that disappointing 2001 season, Howarth’s team traveled to England this summer and won all five preseason matches. Thompson lead led the team in scoring in Europe.

“Coach just did a great job with team chemistry and for one week,” Thompson said. “It seemed like everything fell into place.”

Howarth couldn’t release a starting lineup, but Panther fans can look for these players to produce early and often.

One of the biggest strengths on the team will be its ability to find the back of the net. With Justin Thompson and Jimmy Klatter at forward, defenses can look to be on their heels for 90 minutes.

The midfielder positions are still questionable but will be lead by senior Aaron Aguire. The key at that position will be how well Abraham Martinez comes back from an injury plagued sophomore season.

Defenders are the most experienced group on the field with seniors Bobby Ewan, Tim Hutti and Ryan Hunt. Rounding out the defensive positions sophomore Ryan Luckett, who started in 10 games last season as a true freshman.

Goaltending is also a mystery so far. Currently, the three players Howarth has vying for that spot are sophomore Jacob Billingsley and freshmen Casey DeCaluwe and Ryan Earnes.

The 2002 schedule isn’t too strenuous. The non-conference slate only includes three contests in Charleston, but contains only two top 25 teams.

On Sept. 15, the first challenge will be in Nashville, Tenn., against No. 22 Loyola-Marymount. The Panthers travel to play No.11 Saint Louis Oct. 2. Eastern also gets both nationally ranked conference foes (No. 8 Southern Methodist and No. 19 Creighton) at home.