Conway – The Central Arkansas men's soccer team returned to the Bill Stephens Soccer Complex for the first time in three weeks on Tuesday night, playing host to the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. The Bears broke a seven-match losing streak tonight, pitching their first shutout as they played the Golden Eagles to a scoreless draw.

The Bears (1-9-1) dominated the first half of play, limiting Oral Roberts (4-4-2) to a single shot on goal during the first half, while getting three shots on target from freshman Daltyn Knutson.

Both sides turned up the pressure in the second half, combining for seven shots on goal on a total of 26 shots. ORU got a solid look early in the period, when Davis Chimento fired a shot off the cross bar, but the Bears responded well, getting shots on goal from junior Wes Carson, junior Jordan Bates, and freshman Niklas Sandquist in the following five minutes.

With regulation drawing to a close, the Central Arkansas back line blocked a shot from Chimento and countered, getting shots from Bates and Sandquist in the final minute, but were unable to find the game-winner, sending the match to overtime.

The Bears controlled the pace in the first overtime period, holding the Golden Eagles without a shot, but attempts from Sandquist and Knutson failed to produce the golden goal.

In the second overtime period, ORU put on the pressure, putting three shots on target. The Golden Eagles' best shot game in the 108^th minute, when Colten Haskin worked through the Bears' backline for a one-on-one opportunity with Central Arkansas keeper Harrison Veith, who charged out to make a sprawling save. Matthew Rogers gathered the rebound and fired just inside the back post for ORU, but the Bears got a diving team save to secure the shutout.

"For the way things have been going, to get a hundred and ten minutes of shutout soccer was great," said Central Arkansas head coach Ross Duncan after the match. "We're very happy with that, and it's something to build off of for the last six games. It's something we've been working toward for a long time, and it was well-earned."

On the day, Central Arkansas put eight shots on goal, led by Knutson, who was on frame with three of his six attempts. Sandquist added two shots on target, while Bates, Carson, and freshman Jacob Jerles each put one shot on goal. Veith picked up his first shutout of the season, making six saves.

"Harrison was great tonight," said Duncan of his squad's keeper. "The nice thing about having a great goalkeeper like we have, you ask him to make one or two big saves a game, and let the defense take care of the rest, and that's exactly what happened tonight. Harrison made some huge saves, and our team defense, all eleven guys, put together a really good performance to limit the opportunities on Harrison, which has been a problem all year."

The Bears open the home portion of their MVC slate on Saturday, welcoming the Drake Bulldogs. Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM. "We put a defensive performance in like tonight against Drake, and we're probably going to get more chances, just based on how the games in the Valley go," said Duncan. "The key for us is going to be to repeat that defensive performance and then build off of it. We created the chances tonight to win, we asked their keeper to do a lot and he did, and we got in more times than we've gotten in in quite a while, so it was a good performance all around."