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Between being the top scoring team in Division I at 3.8 goals per game and getting off to an 8-2 start for just the second time in program history (and first since moving to Division I in 2006), the Central Arkansas women's soccer team has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success in the non-conference portion of its season.
The Bears will aim to continue that momentum today when they begin the second segment of the season with the opening of Southland Conference play at Northwestern State tonight at 7 p.m. The opening weekend of league action takes them to Huntsville, Texas to square off against Sam Houston State on Sunday.
With such stark improvement early on in the season, hope is that it will continue on throughout league play – which hasn't been particularly kind to the Bears of late. After going 5-4 in Southland competition in 2007, Central Arkansas has struggled in the four seasons since – compiling a conference record of 5-26-5.
With a new scheme and more firepower in place under first-year head coach Jeremy Bishop, the Bears have aspirations of being more competitive in 2012. This year's team has already produced wins over foes such as UALR and ULM which they had previously never beaten, and is scoring at a program-record pace with 38 goals to date - already tied for the Bears' fourth-highest season total.
Junior forward Adriana Lucar, in her first season at Central Arkansas, has already accumulated 14 goals – one shy of the program's single-season record with nine games to play. Three other Bears – Marisela Chavez (five), Elizabeth Brady and Cristin Curl (four apiece) have already equaled or surpassed the goal total for last season's team leader.
The Bears were picked 8th of nine teams in the league's preseason polls ahead of Nicholls State. Northwestern State was selected 6th in the Coaches' Poll and 7th in the Sports Information Directors' Poll, while Sam Houston State was picked 4th in both.
The Lady Demons enter tonight's contest with a 5-5 record, with wins over Texas Southern, LSU-Shreveport, and a three-game winning streak against UALR, UAPB and Grambling before last weekend's 2-1 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette. Sam Houston, who opens with Nicholls, is 3-7. The Bearkats own wins over Prairie View A&M, Texas Southern and New Mexico State - all 1-0 decisions with the last two coming in overtime. Five of their seven losses have been by a single goal.
After this weekend's road swing, the Bears return home next weekend to take on defending league champion Stephen F. Austin and McNeese State.
