Conway – The Central Arkansas Bears returned to Southland Conference play on Friday night, hosting the McNeese State Cowgirls. The Bears led for the majority of the match before McNeese State evened the score with five minutes to play, but Central Arkansas got the golden goal in the second overtime period.
Central Arkansas (4-6, 1-1 SLC) took a 1-0 lead in the 35
th minute, when sophomore
Dayna Mounie worked her way through the McNeese State (3-5, 0-2 SLC) defense, firing from the edge of the box for her second goal of the season.
The Cowgirls nearly waited too long, but finally found the equalizer in the 85
th minute, when Gabi D'Alesandro played a pass forward to Kayla Goedicke, who beat Central Arkansas keeper
Lauren Mercuri in a one-on-one to even the score at 1-1.
"We talked about how we need to do a better job of preventing the tying goal, and we did the same thing last week," said Central Arkansas head coach Jeremy Bishop. "Protecting the lead in the first place is something we need to do in the first place, but we did a good job of staying up and keeping fighting."
Neither team was able to score in the first overtime, but with five minutes to play in the second overtime period, junior
Shelby Wilson played a ball down the sideline to freshman
Camille Bassett, who dribbled into the box and slotted the ball just inside the back post for the game-winner.
"You look for the balls in, which is what we've been focusing on all year, and it paid off for us," said Bassett.
"Both of our goals came off of the situation that we've been talking about all season long, where we take them on off the dribble, looking to beat one or two of their players in the box, and finding our finish, " said Bishop of the Bears' goals.
Central Arkansas took 13 shots on the day, and put five on goals, led by freshman Ashley Smith, who was on target with all three of her attempts. Making her first start in goal for the Bears, Mercuri made eight saves on the night.
Central Arkansas hosts Lamar on Sunday afternoon, with kickoff set for 1:00 PM. "Looking at video, it looks to be another hard-fought game," said Bishop of the Bears matchup with the Lady Cardinals. "Everything in conference the first weekend was either a one-goal game or a tie, and I'd imagine that this weekend, and the rest of the season, will be the same way. We've just got to come ready to play."
