Conway – The Central Arkansas men's soccer team opened the home portion of their Missouri Valley Conference schedule on Saturday, playing host to the Bulldogs of Drake University. Drake got the game's only goal midway through the second half, taking down the Bears
Despite combining for 12 shots in the first half, neither side was able to find a goal in the first half.
The teams traded shots in the early portion of the second half, with neither side able to find the net until the 65
th minute, when Steven Enna played a ball across the top of the box to James Wypych, who fired from 18 yards away. The ball caromed off of a Central Arkansas (1-10-1, 0-2-0 MVC) defender, past keeper
Harrison Veith, off of the goal post, and into the back of the net to put Drake (8-3-0, 3-0-0 MVC) ahead 1-0.
"That's probably got a lot to do with tired legs," said Central Arkansas head coach Ross Duncan. "We had a bit of a defensive miscue, giving away possession in the back, and they made the extra pass, the shot was deflected. You'd like to think that Harrison has a good chance if that ball isn't deflected, but it was. It's kind of a goalkeeper's nightmare."
The Bears were unable to find an equalizer.
"I thought we matched our performance from midweek, defensively," said Duncan. "The ebbs and flows of the game went to them, which meant we were defending a lot, and if you're off the ball that much, you break down. We need a bit more possession, especially in our attacking end."
On the night, the Bears put four shots on goal, led by freshman
Daltyn Knutson, who was on target with two of his three attempts. Fellow freshmen
Chris Holmes and
Niklas Sandquist each put one shot on goal. In net for the Bears, Veith made seven saves.
Central Arkansas returns to action next Saturday, taking on Loyola. Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM. "Loyola is a strong opponent, as all of the MVC opponents are," said Duncan of the Ramblers. "The nice thing is that we finally have a full week of training, so we can get the legs back under us. We're still teaching, we're still developing, all the way through the week with team development and getting that possession."
