CONWAY – Central Arkansas scored with just over a minute remaining in regulation to force overtime, then completed the come-from-behind victory six minutes later on a goal from true freshman Kristin Pollard to defeat UAPB 2-1 on Friday.
The Bears (4-3-1) secured their third straight victory when Pollard fired from deep on the right side and put the ball up into the top right corner of the net. UAPB (5-3) goalkeeper Bree-Ann Laypoole was able to get a hand on the shot, but couldn’t keep it out of the goal.
“Being able to come from behind and get a win is a big positive for us,” said UCA head coach Tina Banham. “That’s something we wouldn’t have done a year ago. The team is coming into their own and playing very determined, but we still have a long way to go. But for us to battle and get a comeback victory is important for us going into conference play. To have a true freshman score in overtime to win a big game is a great feeling.”
After falling behind in the 77th minute on a goal by UAPB’s Jade West, UCA answered back in the 89th minute of regulation on sophomore Brittany Kemper’s first goal as a Bear.
“Brittany made an incredible diagonal run from way across the field – just pure, pure effort on that goal,” Banham said. “She took it upon herself to get to that ball and stuck with it and scored from a pretty incredible angle. And that was a great ball from Julie Foerster – really good service.”
With wins over Tulsa and Prairie View A&M in their last two coming into Friday’s match, the Bears have now won three in a row for the first time since 2006 when they defeated McNeese State, Sam Houston State and Nicholls consecutively.
“We’re excited and we’re definitely celebrating each win, but we have a bigger goal in mind,” Banham said. “We really want to stay grounded and continue to improve each week in training. We’ve got one more really tough one next weekend before we start conference play. We just need to keep getting better and try to put ourselves in a position to go to the conference tournament later this year.”
The Bears will have an eight-day layoff before playing again next Sunday against SIU Edwardsville in their final non-conference test. Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin come to Conway on Oct. 1 and 3 to open Southland Conference play.
