CONWAY — Central Arkansas will host its first-ever Missouri Valley Conference match Saturday when the Bears host defending MVC champion Missouri State at 4 p.m.

UCA (1-5), playing its first season as an affiliate member of the league, will get its first conference game since transitioning to Division I in 2006 after playing the previous four seasons as an independent.

In Missouri State (2-4), UCA gets about as tough an introduction to the league as possible. Missouri State won the MVC last season with a 7-1-1 record in the conference and finished 12-5-2 overall. Alex Riggs, the Bears' goalkeeper, was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year.

Neither team has enjoyed much success thus far this season with a combined 3-9 record, but eight of the teams' losses have been by one goal with only UCA's 2-0 loss at Oregon State being decided by more than a single score. On Tuesday, Missouri State fell 2-1 in double overtime on the road at Tulsa – the No. 2 team in the nation.

It will be the fifth meeting between the teams, with Missouri State holding a 2-1-1 advantage in the series. Last season the two teams battled to a scoreless tie in Conway on Sept. 13.

Missouri State junior midfielder Heath Melugin comes into the match tied for fourth in the league in goals with three. UCA has just four goals as a team for the season, with Joseph Cervantes, Mickey Segura, Wynne Mason and Alex Ghaffari each scoring once.

Nick Figaro leads UCA with two assists, tying him for seventh in the league with – among others – MSU's Gerard Barbero and David Buckenheimer.

Riggs enters the match fourth in the MVC in save percentage at .789, while UCA's Ivan Zarate is sixth at .735. Riggs is third in saves with 5.00 per game while Zarate is fifth at 4.17.

The game will be UCA's last at home until Oct. 13 when Eastern Illinois comes to Conway. The Bears' only other home game of the season will be against Creighton on Oct. 23.