The Eastern men’s soccer team lost its Summit League season opener Saturday, being forced to try to come from two goals behind and coming up short.

Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis’ Kyle Hyland, the league’s top offensive player, scored both of IUPUI’s goals in the game – the first coming on a penalty kick at the 43-minute mark.

IUPUI was given a penalty kick opportunity after the referees ruled that Eastern freshman defender Conor Bartuch intentionally batted the ball down with his hand in the goal box.

Eastern head coach Adam Howarth said the call could’ve gone either way.

“It was ball-to-hand, not hand-to-ball,” Howarth said. “Tough on our luck this year.”

Hyland, the league leader in goals and points, scored and came out six minutes into the second half and scored again to give IUPUI an insurmountable two-goal lead.

“Hyland works very hard on and off the ball, which makes him very good,” Howarth said.

Eastern wouldn’t be shutout, though. Red-shirt freshman forward Garet Christianson scored his first goal of the season after leading the Panthers in shots all season.

Sophomore forward Will Butler connected with Christianson on a cross into the goal box, which Christianson headed in.

But the score at the 69-minute mark wasn’t enough to spark a complete comeback for the Panthers.

It has been commonplace for Eastern to have to come from behind in games this season.

“We have played well in spurts and did so again Saturday, but we weren’t good enough over the 90 minutes to win the game,” Howarth said.

Howarth said falling into holes in games this season has been the team’s biggest problem.

“We have to get back to work, concentrate on not giving up restart goals and make sure we finish our chances,” Howarth said.

The Panthers didn’t have enough chances Saturday, compared to IUPUI. The Jaguars had seven more shots on goal than the Panthers, 9-2.

Hyland had 10 total shots, including five of IUPUI’s nine on goal.

In the games Eastern has lost this year, they’ve only scored the first goal one time – against Dayton; however, after scoring the opening goal, the Panthers gave up four straight and lost, 4-1.

The Panthers also dug themselves into a big hole against Canisius, giving up three goals before they scored one.

The Panthers, who are 2-7 this season, have shutout the opponents in each of their wins – against Loyola and Lipscomb.

Eastern will have a week to try to fill the holes in practice. It’s next game is at 1 p.m. Sunday against Missouri-Kansas City.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].