Conway – The Central Arkansas women's soccer returned to the pitch at the Bill Stephens Soccer Complex on Friday night, playing host to the maroon Bears of Missouri State University. A late own goal proved to be the difference-maker, as Missouri State edged out Central Arkansas 2-1.

Missouri State (3-2-1) took an early lead, when Brooke Prodzinski played a ball forward to Alix Opfer, who beat Central Arkansas keeper Anna Hughes in the top right corner from nine yards out for her sixth goal of the season.

The purple Bears (2-5) looked to even the score before the break, taking six shots, but were unable to find an equalizer before halftime.

Central Arkansas found the tying goal in the 60^th minute, when junior Shelby Wilson played a cross into the MSU box, where freshman Ashley Smith volleyed home the ball from five yards out for her second goal of the season.

"We've been talking about that a lot this season," said Central Arkansas head coach Jeremy Bishop. "About getting to the end line, and getting players to commit to coming across and trying to stop us instead of just playing the long cross in. We did that. Shelby got in deep, and played a good ball into the box, and Ashley got in and buried it."

The score would hold at 1-1 until the 67^th minute, when Missouri State would take the lead on a defensive miscue from UCA. Lauren Fussell launched a corner kick into the Central Arkansas box, where it bounced off of multiple players before winding up in the UCA net, giving the maroon Bears a 2-1 lead.

Central Arkansas got a good chance to even the score just 10 minutes later, but Camille Bassett's attempt glanced off the crossbar. Dayna Mounie and Smith each got off a shot in the waning moments of the match, but both were blocked by MSU defenders.

"It was one of those games that could have gone either way, and we've had a lot of those this year," said Bishop. "We have to keep fighting, because we're creating good scoring chances, we're limiting the other teams, and this is the kind of game that we're going to be playing all through conference, so I think we're preparing ourselves well. Hopefully we can grow from this one, and learn from it so that when we get in another of these games, we can be on other end of it."

Smith led the Central Arkansas attack on the night, placing two of her four shots on goal, while Wilson and Kelsey Johnson each added a shot on goal of their own. In goal, Hughes and Lauren Mercuri each allowed a goal, with Hughes making three saves and Mercuri adding a pair.

The Bears are in action again on Sunday, playing host to Mississippi Valley State in a final tune-up before the Southland Conference slate begins next weekend. Kickoff is set for 3:00 PM. "We've got one more game before conference," said Bishop of the Bears' matchup with the Devilettes. "We've tried to look at all of our games so far as an opportunity to get better for conference play, and we've got another on Sunday. Tonight we took a step, and that's what we need to do on Sunday. It's a game that we've handled in the past, but they seem to be a much-improved team this year, so it won't be given to us. We'll have to come ready to play."