CONWAY — In the final home game for its six seniors, the Central Arkansas women's soccer team made it a memorable one as the Bears scored midway through the second overtime to defeat Lamar 1-0 on Senior Day at the Bill Stephens Track/Soccer Complex.
With exactly five minutes remaining in the second overtime, UCA's Julie Foerster broke the tie and sent the Bears (6-7-3, 2-3-2 Southland) away winners for the second time in three games when she took a deflection off the keeper and drove it into the net to set off the celebration. The decisive score was set up when Carrissa Rossi's corner kick found Kristin Pollard, whose strike went off the keeper and found its way to Foerster for the game-winner.
It was the third straight game with a goal for Foerster, who also had the game-winner last weekend at Northwestern State and the Bears' lone goal in Friday's 1-1 tie with McNeese State. The junior from Little Rock came into the season with one goal in each of the previous two seasons. She now has three game-winning goals in her career to move her into a tie for 10th in school history.
Lamar (4-10-3, 2-4-2) had several scoring opportunities throughout the day, taking 21 shots, but only placed five on frame. UCA goalkeeper Kelsey Gochnauer recorded four saves and recorded her sixth shutout of the season to break the school's single-season record. The Bears also recorded a team save.
UCA, which had eight shots with five on goal, looked as if it would take the lead earlier in the match on two separate occasions – but a pair of nice stops by Lamar goalkeeper Jennifer Gibbs on shots from Alex Barnett and Brittany Kemper kept the game scoreless.
With two games remaining, the Bears pull into a tie for sixth in the league standings with Lamar. The top six teams advance to the conference tournament. The Bears wrap up their regular season on the road at Southeastern Louisiana - which currently sits atop the league standings with a 5-1-1 record – and at Nicholls, which is at the bottom of the standings at 0-7.