The Eastern men’s soccer team lost its Summit League matchup on the road with Western Illinois, 3-1, in the second week of conference play on Saturday.

Oscar Ortega came off the bench to put the nail in the coffin for Western (2-8) in the 82nd minute when he knocked home his first goal of the season to put the Leathernecks two goals ahead of Eastern (0-7-2).

The Panthers remain winless through nine games.

Red-shirt freshman Ben Feltes was back in goal for Eastern after watching the Panthers first match of Summit League play from the bench.

Sophomore Garrett Creasor was the man in goal for that conference matchup with IUPUI, but he missed practice Thursday for a slight knock he picked up during the week for the Panthers.

Feltes made eight saves in the match but let in three goals. In keeping with the trend this season, Feltes faced a flurry of shots from the Western attack. The Iowan goalkeeper has averaged 21 shots faced per match this season, while Creasor has averaged 12 shots faced.

Freshman midfielder Nick Wegrzynowicz got his first start for the Panthers Saturday after what Eastern coach Adam Howarth said was a couple weeks of solid performances in training.

“He had a good week of practice and trained very well, so we will keep looking at it,” Howarth said after last week’s tie with IUPUI, a game in which Wegrzynowicz played 36 minutes.

On Saturday, Wegrzynowicz played the entire game.

Additionally, sophomore midfielder Tony Meza was back in the first 11 for Howarth after coming off the bench for three straight weeks, dating back to Eastern’s match with Loyola on Sept. 13.

Red-shirt junior forward Chris Boswell was not on the field or on Howarth’s list of substitutes. Boswell only recently returned from an injury that kept him out of the lineup for the beginning of the season; he missed practice Thursday.

Sophomore midfielder Jake Brillhart opened the scoring, giving Eastern the lead in the ninth minute. The Panthers retained the advantage for most of the first half.

With 51 seconds to go before the end of the first half, senior midfielder Husref Jupic buried an equalizer to bring Western level with Eastern just before the half time break.

Coming out of half time, Eastern’s inconsistent play followed. Eastern has been outscored 16-7 in the second half this season.

After keeping the Leathernecks at bay for the first 20 minutes of the second half, freshman forward Diego Lopez scored a goal to put Western ahead 2-1.

In the 82nd minute, Ortega added his goal to the total, handing Eastern its first loss of conference play this season, while Western picked up its second win of 2013.

Eastern will go on the road face the University of Illinois-Chicago on Tuesday in a match that was postponed because of inclement weather on Aug. 30.

Michael Spencer can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].