Conway – The Central Arkansas men's soccer opens the home portion of its Missouri Valley Conference schedule on Saturday, playing host to current league leader Drake at the Bill Stephens Soccer Complex. The match will also serve as UCA #WaterFoodHealthHousingEducation Night, as the Bears make an effort to raise awareness regarding sustainability by welcoming organizations from the Central Arkansas area.
College soccer programs all over the nation have helped to forward the cause by sponsoring nights just like the Bears will on Saturday, when local organizations such as Literacy Action for Central Arkansas, Choosing to Excel, UCA Big Team Event, UCA Outreach, Tacos 4 Life, and United Way of Central Arkansas will be in attendance to provide fans with information on how they can help provide access to water, food, health, housing, and education in their local area.
"This is a really important weekend for our program," said Central Arkansas head coach Ross Duncan. "Giving back to the community and supporting local people doing great things is a major part of what we are here to do. By connecting ourselves with local organizations that focus on water, food, health, housing, and education, we are empowering our players to get involved at a local level and make an impact on the community they live in."
On the field, the Bears will be seeking their first conference win of the season and their first win over the Bulldogs since 2011, when they won 2-1 in Conway. On the season, the Bears are led offensively by junior
Wes Carson, whose five goals and 11 points on the year both lead the MVC. In goal,
Harrison Veith has logged all but 18 minutes on the year, and ranks ninth in the nation with 51 saves.
The Bulldogs are led offensively by James Wypych, (3 goals, 1 assist) and Meueng Sunday (1 goal, 5 assists), while Darrin MacLeod ranks in the top four in the MVC in save percentage (.755), total saves (40), and goals against average (1.3).
"Drake is a great opponent," said Duncan of the Bulldogs. "They play good soccer, have a strong tradition, and will compete hard. We always play them tough and match up well with them at home though, and having the game in Conway is big for us. I expect us to build off of our performance mid-week and have that be the standard going forward. The team defending and chances created in attack will serve us well as we dig deeper into the MVC schedule."
