Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Ryley Gibbs floated a header into the back of the net to give the Cougars the 2-1 victory against EIU in its final regular season game Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Field.
SIUE (5-10-2, 4-4-2) applied an aggressive press in the backfield to start the match, but Eastern (4-8-4, 3-4-3) had no problem taking care of the ball.
The press did result in a slow and stalled offense for the Panthers in the opening minutes, but Eastern eventually began mounting consistent attacks.
The Panthers were aggressive in the first half, taking nine shots in the opening 45 minutes.
Senior forward Fabricio Roberti scored the opening goal of the game and his third of the season after junior defender Sho Toda threaded the ball through a defender’s legs for the assist in the 30th minute.
“[Roberti] has done a great job,” senior forward Casey Welage said. “He can put the ball in the back of the net which is necessary for success here.”
Any momentum the Panthers hoped to gain from the goal was cut short, as a penalty kick was given to SIUE in the 38th minute.
The resulting penalty kick was saved, but graduate student defender Wes Gibson followed his kick up to secure the equalizer.
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Lucas Ortiz turned away five shots in the match, nearly tying his season-high six saves against Liberty in mid-October.
Ortiz earned the starting spot in the middle of the season as well, making his debut after he sat out most of last year.
The final goal of the match came in the 63rd minute in the second half, after Ryley Gibbs received a cross that he lofted over the fingertips of Ortiz and into the net.
Physicality was a key in this matchup, with 27 total fouls being recorded between the two teams.
Emotions and frustration were visible on the faces of both teams, with five yellow cards being shown throughout the course of the match; two for Eastern and three for SIUE.
With their loss against the Cougars, Eastern moves down to sixth place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings just before the conference tournament.
“We’ve just got to shake this one off,” Welage said. “All eyes are on the tournament now.”
The Panthers’ next game will be in the first round of the OVC Championships against Liberty, who the Panthers tied against in the only matchup in the regular season.
Kickoff for that game is set for 3 p.m. from St. Charles, Missouri.
Jacksen Adkins can be reached at 581-2812 or jdadkins2@eiu.edu.
