CONWAY, Ark. – Battling through rain and surprisingly dropping temperatures, the Central Arkansas men’s soccer team celebrated Senior Day first, before celebrating a 2-1 win over Queens Saturday night.
The Bears improved to 4-8-2 overall and 3-1-1 in ASUN play, clinching a berth in the ASUN Championships in November. Central Arkansas used two first half goals to take a lead to the break before holding down the fort in the second half.
Early on in the first half, though, it was all Queens, who found three shots on goal in the first 12 minutes, all before the Bears even got one shot. But when the Bears did take that first shot, it found the back of the net. Lucas Shearer played a ball up for Devonte Richards, and the senior buried it past the Royals’ keeper, giving the Bears the early 1-0 lead in the 21st minute.
Time continued to pass in the first half with both sides trading possession in the middle of the field. And as the first half was just about to close, lightning struck a second time, as Omar Atia dished one to Michael Oliveri, who slotted home his fourth goal of the season to make it 2-0 with less than two minutes before half.
As the second half started, the Bears continued to pressure the Royals, taking a few more shots to open the final 45. Aby Gomez forced a big-time save from the Queens keeper in the 52nd minute, and everything was going the Bears’ way. But Queens wasn’t done, getting some quality shots on goal just before the 60 minute mark, and finally scored in the 63rd minute to cut the lead in half.
With the lead now just one, both sides ramped up the intensity and physicality, as both sides desperately wanted a goal. Shearer put a pair of shots on goal before the 80 minute mark, forcing another pair of saves from the Royals keeper. But most importantly, the Bears focus on the defensive end in the final 20 minutes paid off, with Queens barely getting any meaningful opportunities down the stretch.
Central Arkansas now prepares for a road match to end the regular season, heading out to Lipscomb for the regular season finale on November 1st. Still with a chance to clinch the No. 1 seed in the ASUN Gold Division, the Bears kick off against the Bisons at 7 p.m. CT.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ucasports.com ’
