Conway – The Central Arkansas women's soccer team took time before Friday night's match against Sam Houston State to honor the career contributions of its seven seniors. Following the ceremony, the Bearkats took down the Bears 1-0.

The two teams played to a scoreless draw in the first half, with Sam Houston State (6-8-0, 5-2-0 SLC) outshooting Central Arkansas (5-7-2, 1-4-1 SLC) 8-0.

The Bearkats broke the draw in the 65^th minute, when Madison Bible won a 50-50 ball and fired a shot into the top-right corner of the net from 20 yards out for the game-winner. "Same story that it has been," said Bears' head coach Jeremy Bishop. "We're playing good soccer. They had a lot of shots but most of them were from distance and we created a lot of scoring chances that didn't result in shots. It's frustrating, and that's the kind of stuff that can really eat at you and defeat you as a team if you don't take the positive from it, and that is that we're creating chances and we're holding possession well."

On the night, SHSU held a 13-4 edge in shots and a 5-1 advantage in shots on goal. Shelby Wilson, Allie Coleman, Alex Moore, and Brooke Ballard each took a shot, with Ballard placing one on goal.

Kylie Hambleton earned the clean sheet for the Bearkats, while Anna Hughes made four saves and allowed one goal to take the loss.

"It's great for our seniors to have a night that is just about them," said Bishop after the match. "This group has been amazing. Their freshman year was a tough one, but they stuck with it and they've been competitive, and they've won a lot of games, and been to the tournament, and really just helped build the foundation of this program. So it's great for them to have a night."

Central Arkansas returns to action on Sunday afternoon, hosting Houston Baptist for their final match at the Bill Stephens Soccer Complex this season. Kickoff is set for 1:00 PM. "I think it's
going to be another hard-fought game where we're pretty closely matched and it's just going to be a matter of who makes the plays."