From an outsiders point of view Newcastle, England and Eastern Illinois probably don’t appear to have much in common other than they both have castles in the vicinity. EIU’s castle is called Old Main, serving as the campus administration building and landmark.  While the town located on the coast of northeast England can trace its origin back to Roman times as part of Hadrian’s Wall and later a more modern structure appeared in the late 1100’s under the rule of King Henry II.

 

A closer look can see the a closer tie as the Eastern Illinois men’s soccer team has two players who hail from Newcastle giving the Panthers a total of three English players – four if you count current head coach Adam Howarth a native of Slough. The two Newcastle natives are sophomore defender Chris Pearson and freshman forward Alex Harrison. Senior captain Mick Galeski rounds out the trio hailing from Blackburn.

 

When asked why Eastern Illinois, both Harrison and Pearson were quick to respond about the challenge of playing at the U.S. collegiate level.

 

“I sat out a year before looking at EIU,” Pearson said. “I was interested in seeing if I could compete at a high standard and college soccer in the United States provided that opportunity. A person I knew back home put me in contact with coach.”

 

Harrison’s trip to EIU was a little different.  “I had an offer from another US schools but decided not to come at first,” Harrison added. “Last year I was put in touch with same person who had set Chris up with EIU. Once I was able to meet coach Howarth and talked a little bit about the school with Chris I was ready to come.”

 

While both players have grown up with the game, adjusting to a new place and new style of play has not always been easy. During his first season at EIU Pearson only appeared in seven games with four starts missing part of the season with injury.

 

“One of the biggest differences between England and the US is the style of play,” Pearson said. “English soccer is more technical. Guys are brought up playing the sport where in America it is somewhat secondary. English soccer has a lot of balls played on the ground where in the US it seems players are more athletic and physical.”

 

Even though playing styles in England and America are as different to Pearson and Harrison as the two places they have lived, both players encourage young players to stick with the game.

 

“Just stick with it,” Harrison states. “There seems to be great interest in soccer at a young age in this country and for some reason that interest dies off as they get older. I would encourage them to just stick with it because it is an enjoyable sport.”

 

Enjoyable could also be the way to sum up the EIU season to date. Heading into the final couple weeks of the regular-season the Panthers have posted their best record in nearly a decade and have their sites set on a possible NCAA College Cup appearance. EIU’s last NCAA appearance was before most of this year’s team was born in 1983 when EIU was 16-2-0.