Eastern enters this year’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with the No. 7 seed out of eight teams in the tournament.

With the large amount of talent spread throughout the MVC this season, the Panthers are the underdogs heading into the tourney.

With perennial soccer powerhouses Southern Methodist, Creighton, and Bradley all playing within the MVC, Eastern arguably plays in one of the toughest leagues in the nation.

Eastern will play the second-seeded Creighton Bluejays. Creighton beat Eastern 4-1 at Lakeside Field earlier this season. The Panthers believe an upset is possible because Eastern has seen what Creighton can do.

Besides the game against Creighton, the Panthers will have to deal with an extremely talented field.

The formula for an unpredictable tournament is in place, which the Panthers hope to be one of the most unpredictable teams.

While it is a long shot for Eastern to take the tournament – or even the first match – the team hopes it will get overlooked by Creighton.

No. 2 Creighton vs. No. 7 Eastern

The Panthers are underdogs in this matchup, but it doesn’t scare the players or head coach Adam Howarth.

Eastern did rebound during the tail end of its schedule to win two of the last three games, with the one loss coming in the last minute to Southwest Missouri.

The Panthers are hoping to ride a hot streak heading into Saturday’s 1 p.m. match. Creighton lost a tough battle with the regular season conference champions Southern Methodist in its final game of the season.

“We are going into this tournament as the underdog, but sometimes this could be a good thing,” Howarth said. “We have no fear of these teams because we have seen them all before.”

This will have to carry the Panthers, because the team does not match up well with Creighton on paper. Eastern’s offense may be potent enough to keep up with the Bluejays, both teams scored 33 goals this season, but the two defenses are completely different.

Creighton has locked teams up this season by allowing only 17 goals all season, which is significantly better than Eastern’s defense which gave up 31 goals this season.

“The confidence is high on this team right now, and its good that we go into this tournament with a little momentum. The kids know it is now a do or die situation each game,” said Howarth.

No. 1 Southern Methodist vs. No. 8 Evansville

The matchup is even more lopsided than Eastern’s game, since Evansville has struggled mightily this season. The Purple Aces are one of the few teams in the field that have given up more goals than they have scored. Southern Methodist team that has completely shutdown opposing offenses, and have only given up 11 goals the entire year.

The Mustangs enter their first round game coming off the victory that clinched the top spot in the tournament, after they defeated Creighton 2-1.

No. 3 Southwest Missouri vs. No. 6 Tulsa

Southwest Missouri enters the conference tournament riding a five-game winning streak, which could carry it fairly far. The Bears have been solid on defense and proved this again as they allowed only one goal to the Panthers in their 2-1 victory on Nov. 3.

Tulsa has staggered to a 4-5 record this season within the league. Defense will be a key for the Golden Hurricane as Tulsa has scored only 26 goals this year. Both teams will boast a strong defense that they need to use for success in this tournament.

No. 4 Drake vs. No. 5 Bradley

Not many people expected Drake to come into the MVC tournament with a higher seed than Bradley. Going into the season the Bulldogs were predicted only to be seventh in the conference, while Bradley was nationally ranked.

But three of Bradley’s four losses this season came within the MVC, which is puzzling considering the team’s offensive and defensive units are both solid. While both teams have a solid defense, Bradley’s explosive offense could make the difference in this game.