Box Score

CONWAY — After being on the wrong end of a pair of one-goal matches to begin the season, Central Arkansas finally got one to go their way on Tuesday as they held off Centenary for a 2-1 win at the Bill Stephens Track/Soccer Complex.

“It’s nice to get a W and the first win of the season” said UCA head coach Chad Flanders. “We talk about getting results at home and this was an important result for us. I thought the boys responded well after having that gut-wrenching loss against UMKC.”

Mickey Segura gave UCA (1-2) the lead just more than four minutes into the game, receiving a cross from Alex Parker and striking from deep in the field as he blasted it past Centenary keeper Rennie Walker from 30 yards out for his first goal of the season.

The Gents (0-1) tied it up in the 35th minute when Heath Cox was the beneficiary of an Ivan Zarate save. Zarate made a stop on a strike from Centenary’s Marcos Rodriguez and, before he could recover, Cox tapped in the rebound.

The Bears took the lead for good in the 68th minute when Nick Figaro fed Wynne Mason, who struck from the middle of the box for the game winner.

“Wynne Mason gave us some spark off the bench,” Flanders said. “Figaro came off the bench and did a good job of raising the level for us as a collective group. I thought in the second half we came out much better. We talked about being sharp at halftime and that we needed to come out and pick things up because it wasn’t good. After the first goal, we let down and the guys needed to step up.”

The Bears had a handful of near-misses in the second half, when they took 11 of their 15 shots. The Gents had 11 for the game, with six coming in the second half.

“I thought we finished off the game well,” Flanders said. “We managed the clock and kept possession and made good decisions.”

The Bears return to play on Friday when they host IUPUI at 4 p.m. in Conway.