That element alone brings added meaning to the upcoming season. For the UCA men’s soccer team, there’s also one other small difference this year.

 

The Bears have a conference.

 
After spending the last four seasons as an independent, the Bears begin their first season as an affiliate member of the Missouri Valley Conference – a league which has sent three different programs to the Elite Eight over the past three seasons – on Wednesday with a 4:30 p.m. meeting with Oral Roberts.

 
“It’s a brand new beginning for our program,” said Chad Flanders, entering his eighth season as head coach at UCA. “We haven’t had that type of opportunity for four years, so it’s the first time we can have the conversation that we’re playing every game, essentially, to get into the NCAA tournament. I think that’s huge. Having a conference affiliation, now we can start to establish some rivalries and I know the boys are really excited about playing a full Missouri Valley slate.”

 
With a conference home, the Bears will now be competing for a spot in the MVC tournament with a trip to the NCAA tournament at stake – a far cry from playing as an independent with no hopes for a conference title or post-season play.

 
“Now, every game counts,” Flanders said. “If things don’t go right in the beginning of the season, once conference play starts you’ve got a whole new ball of wax. You might come in struggling, but we haven’t played a game yet in conference so we’re still in the mix. It’s great for our guys to have that to look forward to.”

 
In men’s soccer, the Valley consists of Bradley, Creighton, Drake, Eastern Illinois, Evansville, Missouri State and SIU Edwardsville along with UCA. Bradley, Creighton and Drake have all advanced to the national quarterfinals within the last three seasons.

 
“We’re excited to be in a strong conference,” Flanders said. “Over the last 10 years they’ve done a great job and had two teams in the NCAA tournament each year. And then you see three different teams in the final eight over the last three years and you see there are a lot of strong programs in this league. We’re in a tough group.”

In their first year in the league, the Bears were selected last in the preseason coaches’ poll with Evansville selected at the top and defending regular-season champion Missouri State picked second.

 

UCA played MSU to a scoreless tie last season in Conway.

 
“We’ve played several of these teams since moving up and been pretty competitive in a lot of those matches,” Flanders said. “I think it helps us coming in that we’re familiar with their programs and I’ve known a lot of the guys that coach at these schools for a long time. I started out at Bradley and have known some of them for 13-14 years and it does help some to have an idea what their tendencies are and how they approach the game.”

 
The Bears come into the season with nine returning starters from last year’s team that closed out the season with four consecutive wins en route to a 7-7-1 finish, the best for UCA since moving up.

 
“Last year was sort of an up-and-down year for us,” Flanders said. “We’re hoping we can come out and sort of pick up where we left off – playing well and having good results, especially with so many returning players. And we think we brought in a pretty good class to complement those guys. We feel like we’ve got a lot of depth and maturity, and this is the most fit we’ve been since I’ve been here. I think that shows how excited the guys are for the season.”

 
Junior forward Joseph Cervantes, last year’s leading goal scorer with eight, returns to lead the attack for UCA. Flanders expects Cervantes to get some scoring assistance from Ethan Miller, a sophomore transfer from Centenary.

 
“Joe’s looking sharp,” Flanders said. “We’re hoping to have good things from him and hopefully he can come in and have the same type of season he did last year. Ethan gives us another threat and if guys are keying in on Joesph, Ethan is capable of scoring goals. When he gets a chance he usually puts it away. With both of them, I think nobody can focus on either one too much and that will make things easier for both of those guys.”

 
Along the back line the Bears return juniors Andrew O’Brien, Zac Burns and Damon Hymas, who played significant roles in six shutouts a year ago.

 
“O’Brien and Hymas are both making better decisions and reading the game better and being more of a physical presence,” Flanders said. “Burns is just really becoming more confident as an outside back and doing a great job on the defensive side – but also adding to the attack and being more dangerous for us, which is good to see.”

 
Also back from last season are Regis Mawire, Mickey Segura and Michael Quinn along with Wynne Mason, who redshirted after playing in 2008.

 
“Regis is playing quicker to where he can utilize his skill and awareness in the attack,” Flanders said. “Mickey had a knee injury before last season and wasn’t as fit as he wanted to be when he came in, but this year he’s been a lot sharper and cleaner on the ball and had a good improvement. Quinn is looking better and better and Mason’s been sharper than he was in the spring.”

 
At goalkeeper, the Bears come into the year with five guys vying for time. Patxi Shortsleeve began last season as the starter but after a midseason injury gave way to Ivan Zarate, who held the job the rest of the season. Greg Brooks, the starter from 2008, returns after redshirting last season. Redshirt freshman DJ Sweet will look for his first action, and Memphis transfer Cody Gibson.

 
“That position is sort of in the air,” Flanders said. “We’ve been giving them all time in the preseason so that we could evaluate them all and see where everybody’s at. It’s a big group, but everybody’s working hard and it’s been a good, competitive training environment.”

 
After the opener with Oral Roberts, the Bears will travel to UMKC then come home for meetings with Centenary and IUPUI before taking on Seattle and Oregon State in Corvallis. MVC play will begin with Missouri State coming to Conway on Sept. 25.  Road contests against Alabama A&M, Houston Baptist and Memphis serve as the last non-conference matches of the year, with the remaining six MVC games to follow.

 
“It’s a solid schedule and hopefully all of those early games will prepare us for the Valley,” Flanders said. “We definitely hope we can build some confidence early with each match that goes by. Hopefully we get some good results and go into conference on a positive swing. Our league is going to be an absolute dogfight. There’s no easy match – we’ve got our work cut out for us. Hopefully we work hard and peak at the end of the season and find ourselves fighting for a trip to the tournament.”