St. Louis, Mo. – The Central Arkansas men's soccer team returned to action on Saturday night, travelling to St. Louis, Missouri for a matchup against the 20^th-ranked Bilikens of Saint Louis University. The Bilikens took advantage of a brace from Jair Minors to take down the Bears 3-1.

The Bilikens (4-2) got on the board in the 17^th minute, when Anthony Brown and David Graydon hooked up with Max Karcher, who fielded the ball and tapped it in from close to give SLU a 1-0 lead.

SLU added another goal in the 28^th minute, as Joel Saad lofted a cross into the box for Jair Minors, who fired a shot from 12 yards out to push the lead to 2-0.

Central Arkansas (1-7) cut into the lead in the 36^th minute. Wes Carson gathered the ball and worked his way to the edge of the Biliken box, before firing from 20 yards out. The junior slotted the ball just inside the left post for his fifth goal of the season, cutting the SLU lead to 2-1.

"Wes' goal was an outstanding individual effort, and it came right out of our game plan," said Central Arkansas head coach Ross Duncan. "He took advantage of the space that they kept vacating and Harrison delivered his punt perfectly. That got us rolling when we really needed it."

That score would stand until the 57^th minute, when Saad again found Minors, who volleyed the cross home from 10 yards out to extend the SLU lead to 3-1.

On the night, the Bears got shots on goal from Carson, Jordan Bates, and Alejandro Moquete. In goal for Central Arkansas, Harrison Veith made nine saves.

"What a battle," said Duncan of the Bears' performance in front of 5,483 SLU fans on hand for the team's homecoming match. "It's always a tough, but exciting, game up here, in front of almost 5,500 fans and a top-20 team. They've got quality all over the field, but our guys didn't back down for a second. I was proud of the way that we went after them and took risks. We had some brave performances tonight, especially considering how many guys had never played in an environment like that."

Central Arkansas returns to action on Wednesday, travelling to Memphis, Tennessee to take on the Memphis Tigers. Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM. "The game tonight will prepare us well for conference play," said Duncan. "We're developing a singular focus as we go into next weekend and we've got one more tune-up on Wednesday at Memphis to prepare ourselves. This is a group that is displaying incredible perseverance."