Eastern men’s soccer head coach Adam Howarth was hoping Summit League results this weekend favored the Panthers, after losing to Western Illinois on Friday, 2-1.

But after a weekend of matches in the league, the Panthers are falling further behind in the standings than where they were before the weekend.

The Panthers were one of three winless teams in the league going into the weekend and are now alone at the bottom.

Western Illinois picked up its first Summit League victory against Eastern, while Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne earned its first win, too. Fort Wayne’s win over Omaha was also the team’s first victory overall.

In Friday’s game, Eastern fell behind 2-0 beginning when Western’s Mario Alvarez connected on a goal after a string of passes inside the box at the 57-minute mark.

Then Western’s Nathan Bruinsma leaped in the air and headed a ball over Eastern defenders and passed Eastern senior goalkeeper Evan Turner at the 73-minute mark.

The Panthers fought back eight minutes later when freshman defender Conor Bartuch registered his first career goal to bring the deficit to 2-1.

The goal put energy back into the Eastern players, who tried to complete a comeback by taking a slew of shots in the last nine minutes of the match.

“It gave us a chance,” Howarth said. “The guys have fought all year. We haven’t had the luck. We haven’t had the breaks.”

For Bartuch, the way the Panthers are losing is becoming all too familiar.

“It’s been there all year,” Bartuch said. “We’ve always been a little slow getting there all year. It’s been the story of the year, really.”

Eastern sophomore midfielder Will Butler had the assist on Bartuch’s goal after sending a cross into the box at Bartuch’s feet.

Bartuch said Butler has been really good at crossing the ball into the box this year. He said Butler’s two assists this season have come on the same kind of play.

Eastern took two more total shots, 15-13, than Western Illinois, but Western had two more of its shots on goal, 7-5.

It’s a loss that makes climbing the standings even tougher for the Panthers, but Howarth said he was happy with the team’s effort in the game.

“It was a seesaw battle,” Howarth said. “If they give me that kind of effort everyday, I’m a happy camper.”

The Panthers will hit the road Saturday for a game against Oral Roberts, one of the one-win teams in the league. The game is slated to begin at 7 p.m. in Tulsa, Okla.

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