CHARLESTON, Ill. – Alex Harrison gave Eastern Illinois men's soccer a halftime lead and Kyle Bullock accounted for an equalizer late in the game, providing the offense to help the Panthers play Green Bay to a 2-2 draw in the exhibition finale Saturday afternoon at Lakeside Field.

Harrison scored in the 22nd minute off a double assist from Ryan Child and Bullock. After Green Bay scored twice in the second half to take a 2-1 lead, Bullock registered the equalizer with five minutes and 42 seconds remaining to help EIU salvage the draw.

Green Bay's goals came from Tony Walls on a penalty kick 11 and a half minutes after the start of the second half. JC Banks was taken down in the 18-yard box to create the PK chance. David Bernhardsson scored the go-ahead goal with 16:50 remaining on the game clock in the second half.

 

Harrison and Bullock both scored with ground shots into the bottom left corner of the net. Bullock played Child the ball with a pass down the west sideline and Child connected a pass to Harrison. After advancing the ball into the center of the 18-yard box, Harrison scored with a well-placed shot into lower corner of the net.

 

Ryan Warren setup Bullock's goal with a long lead pass from midfield. Bullock advanced the ball down the right flank and scored with a right-to-left shot across the 18-yard box.

 

“Bullock has been working hard, putting in extra time working on his left foot,” EIU head coach Adam Howarth said. “I'm glad that he was able to cut inside and smack that in with his left foot. That's a credit to the work he did. I thought all the guys, everybody one through 25, really worked extremely hard. It's going to make it tough for me because I can only take so many players next week [for the regular-season opener].”

Eastern played both Butler and Green Bay, the top two teams in the Horizon League preseason poll and 2009 NCAA Tournament qualifiers, to identical 2-2 draws this week. The Panthers open their regular-season schedule Friday at Kentucky.

Today's game was a 105-minute contest, featuring a 45-minute first half and a 60-minute second half. Twenty-four EIU players saw action. Graham Lynch and Mike Picinich logged the most minutes as center backs.

 

“I thought it was a pretty good performance,” Howarth said. “The first half I thought we came out very well. The second half was a little flat, but I thought we picked it up at the end. We got to play everybody against a quality opponent. I think we can take a lot of good things out of it. It was sloppy; the field makes it sloppy at times. We competed, we worked hard and certainly had our share of chances. I think we're ready to go for next week.”

 

All three EIU goalkeepers saw action and teamed up to make four saves. Sean Molony started and played the entire first half. He made the most impressive save of the game when he punched a rising free kick over the crossbar in the 38th minute. Shailer Thomas and Tyler Kelley split time in the second half and made one save apiece.

 

Despite being an exhibition game, the action was heated. There were 36 fouls whistled and six yellow cards issued.

Kickoff of the EIU-UK game Friday is slated for 6:30 p.m. (CDT). The Panthers are also scheduled to play first-time opponent UNC Asheville Sept. 5 in Lexington, Ky., on day two of the UK Invitational.