OMAHA, Neb. — After waiting through a long transitional period playing as an Independent following the school's move to Division I and the Southland Conference (which does not sponsor men's soccer), Central Arkansas is finally back in post-season play.
After a four-year run in Division Ii that included three NCAA tournaments – with a Final Four appearance in 2002 and another Elite Eight in '04 among them – the Bears saw their post-season opportunities disappear in '06 with the transition to D-I.
In 2010 UCA played its first season as an affiliate member of the Missouri Valley Conference, but came up shy of qualifying for the league's post-season championship tournament. Now in their second season in the league, the Bears are now in a long-awaited position to compete for a title and NCAA berth.
"It's a tremendous feeling," said UCA head coach Chad Flanders. "After all the success we had in Division II, it was difficult going so long without going back to a post-season tournament. It's a great feeling to be in that environment again, and great for our seniors to end their careers with this opportunity. After the commitment they made to our program four years ago, I'm excited for them to be in this situation."
The fifth-seeded Bears will take on fourth-seeded Drake on Wednesday at 3 p.m. in the opening round of the tournament – which is being held at Creighton University. The game is a rematch from the Oct. 22 regular season meeting in which UCA won 2-1. The winner will have a date with top-seeded Missouri State on Friday at 3. Missouri State defeated UCA 2-1 in Springfield earlier this season.
"This is a great opportunity for our program to move forward," Flanders said. "If we can go out and play to our potential, I have no doubt that we can beat Drake. If we get by them, I like our chances against Missouri State. We played a very tight game up there, and I don't think we played at all to our potential in that one. If we had played them the way we played Drake, we win that one. We've been talking about this all season, and I think the boys understand what we're asking of them – it's just a matter of putting it together for a full 90 minutes."
The Bears finished 1-3-2 in the league this season, getting ties against Evansville and SIU Edwardsville along with the victory over Drake, and had a 1-0 loss to Bradley and a 3-0 loss to Creighton, which is ranked No. 2 in the nation with a 16-2-0 record.
"We haven't won as much as we'd have liked, but we've shown throughout the season we can be very competitive with a lot of good programs," Flanders said. "The boys have played well in big games. If you look at how we played against Louisville (No. 14 in the country), Bradley (No. 22) and San Diego State, we played well despite not getting the result. And that's been our focus heading into this tournament – trying to replicate those performances, but being a little more detailed."
With many games coming down to a single goal, every misstep is amplified and the key for the Bears heading in is to eliminate those as much as possible.
"It seems like it usually comes down to where there are 2-4 moments that define the game," Flanders said. "Being very detailed individually and collectively is usually the difference between a win and loss. You can play well for 89 minutes, but if you don't do your job for one minute, people will make you pay. We've stressed to the guys that they've got to put together a complete game and play well for 90 minutes, not 89. If we do that, then we have a chance to get a result against anybody here."
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