The Eastern men’s soccer team had its offensive attack cooled off by Wright State Tuesday in a 2-0 loss.

The Panthers (2-3-2) were outshot by the Raiders (5-0-1) and had fewer shots on goal in the match.

In each of Eastern’s last two matches, a 2-1 victory over Mercer and a 0-0 tie with IUPUI, the Panthers fired 14 shots. But in Tuesday’s match, Wright State only gave up five shots to Eastern, only two of which were on goal.

Eastern’s low amount of shots taken Tuesday is well-below the team’s season average of 10 shots per game. Including Tuesday, Eastern’s shots-per-game average is now sitting at 9.28, only a slight drop off.

Eastern did have one edge offensively over Wright State, getting one corner kick compared to the Raiders’ none.

Jake Andrews led Eastern with two shots, one of them on goal. Cameron Behm had the other shot on goal, and Shady Omar and Kris Luke each added a shot in the match.

For Wright State, the team was able to get off a lot of shots, despite not scoring on any regular shots. The Raiders fired off 12 shots against the Panthers, while hitting five of those on-target.

Both of Wright State’s goals came from kicks off Eastern fouls.

The Raiders scored 13 minutes into the match, when Jackson Dietrich scored off a free kick, his first goal of the season. Wright State then added a security goal in the 58th minute when Deri Corfe converted a penalty kick for his third goal of the season.

In goal for Eastern, making his seventh start and completing his seventh full match in goal, Jonathan Burke faced all 12 shots and had three saves.

With the loss Tuesday, Eastern has now given up more goals this year than what the team has scored itself (6-5). 

The penalty kick goal is also the fourth such goal that opponents have scored against Eastern so far this season. The Panthers have given up five total penalty kicks, but Burke saved the first one he faced this year in the 2-0 season-opening victory over Cincinnati.

With Tuesday’s loss, Wright State now holds an all-time 8-5 record over the Panthers. The last time the two teams faced off was last year at Lakeside Field, when the Raiders also won 2-0.

Like Eastern, Wright State defeated Cincinnati earlier this season as well, 3-2. The Raiders also defeated one of Eastern’s conference foes: Fort Wayne. 

The Panthers’ next match is Friday at 4 p.m. at Lakeside Field against Northern Illinois.

Dillan Schorfheide can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].