CONWAY — Central Arkansas will host Nicholls at 4 p.m. in a pivotal women's soccer contest on Friday at the Stephens Complex in the next-to-last game of the regular season, hoping to gain ground in the race for the sixth and final spot in the Southland Conference tournament.

With two games remaining, the Bears (9-6-1, 1-4-1 Southland) have four points in the league standings to sit in seventh place, just behind McNeese State with six points (2-4-0).

If the Bears hope to pass the Cowgirls down the stretch, they could greatly help their cause with a win over the Colonels – who are 5-10-0 overall, 0-5-0 in the league and riding a five-game losing streak.

Nicholls has, however, been highly competitive during its losing streak with four of the five losses coming by a single goal. In their most recent outing, they fell 2-1 in double overtime to second-place Oral Roberts (10-4-2, 4-1-0) – a team the Bears close the regular season with on the 26th in Conway.

The Colonels rank eighth in the nine-team league in Goals Against Average in league play, surrendering 1.34 per contest while the Bears are fourth at 1.11. UCA continues to lead the conference in goals per game for the full season at 2.56, with Adriana Lucar the league leader in goals scored with 14.

Friday's game will be part of UCA's "Kick For A Cure" promotion, with each shot on goal by the Bears generating a $100 donation by First Security Bank to the UCA Bears For A Cure fundraising effort this month, with all proceeds going to Conway Regional Medical Center.

In addition to First Security's donations, the UCA athletic department will be selling Bears For A Cure t-shirts, pink pom-pons, and pizza slices at the game to assist in the fundraising efforts. The first 100 fans to show a special coupon available to UCA Athletics Facebook and Twitter followers will receive a free shirt.