The Kentucky Invitational did not go as well as the Panthers had hoped.

They lost both games and struggled to play consistently.

The Panthers faced off against the Kentucky Wildcats in Eastern’s season opener. The Wildcats were good last year winning 13 games but they lost a couple key players going into this season. Kentucky was able to get on the board first with a goal 30 minutes in by Tyler Riggs. The goal held up as the lone score of the contest, as the Wildcat beat the Panthers 1-0.

Eastern was out shot in the game by a margin of 21-5.

Ten of the 21 shots from Kentucky were on goal. However goalkeeper Sean Molony had a tremendous game with nine saves and giving up just the one goal.

The Panthers played better in the second half of the game by controlling the ball longer and by giving up less shots, 12 shots compared to 9.

The second game of the tournament squared the Panthers against North Carolina-Asheville. The Panthers dug themselves a hole that they could not climb out of.

They allowed the first goal two minutes into the game on a goal by Bryan Bartels. That goal was quickly followed with two goals by Jake Hagedorn in minute 16, off a dropped save by Molony. Then in minute 27 they scored off a corner kick by Connor Holzinger which Hagedorn headed in.

The Panthers were never able to climb out of the first half deficit of 3-0. The second half showed some improvement as Eastern was able to outshoot the Bulldogs 9-0 but they were unable to put any of the shots in the back of the net.

Senior forward Alex Harrison led the team with three shots. Even though the Panthers held the advantage in shots, 12-7, they ended up losing 3-0. The tournament puts a damper on the start of the regular season as Eastern’s record falls to 0-2.

Eastern head coach Adam Howarth was frustrated with his team’s consistency throughout the tournament.

“The first halves of both games we struggled but in the second half of each game we played pretty (well),” Howarth said. “The second game we out-shot the team 9-0 but we were unable to score, so if there was no improvement I would be unhappy but we certainly played well in the second half.”

Howarth said the team can learn a lot from this tournament and hopefully they will be able to make the necessary adjustments and perform better in the next game.

“We got to start better in games, we got to make sure that we don’t get in a hole early and we got to make sure that we do not give up any goals later on, but if we play as well as we did in the second half I have the utmost faith in the team,” Howarth said.

The Panthers return to action at 6 p.m. on Friday at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.

Rob Mortell can be reached at 581-7944 or at [email protected]