Conway – The Central Arkansas Bears opened their home slate on Friday night, playing host to cross-town opponent Central Baptist at the Bill Stephens Soccer Complex. The Bears got a pair of goals from junior Wes Carson to down the Mustangs 2-1.

"It's a local game, it's a big game for CBC, and it's a big game for us," said Central Arkansas head coach Ross Duncan following the match. "We're coming off a weekend where we're 0-2, and we want to bounce back with a result. Yes, we would have loved to have an easier game, but credit to those guys. They dominated our midfield, and we could have buried a couple early to make it easier for us, but those guys didn't give up and made it hard for us."

Central Arkansas (1-2-0) controlled most of the  possession in the first half, holding an 8-0 lead in shots at the break, but neither team was able to find the net.

"We were struggling to get behind them on the corners and get good service," said Duncan. "And that hurt us because we had a lot of tired guys in the midfield. Wes stepped up with two big goals for us, which is great because they were both off of really good service."

In the second half, the Bears took a lead in the 62^nd minute, when sophomore William Woody and freshman Greg Jacobus strung together an attack that found the head of Carson, who flicked it over CBC (0-1-1) keeper Bryce Deaton for his first goal of the season.

The Mustangs evened the score at 1-1 in the 67^th minute, as Callum Morris collected a cross from Ferdinand Matebu and put it away from six yards out.

Carson got the game-winner in the 81^st minute, gathering a cross from sophomore Colton Jackson and slamming it home for his second goal of the night.

 "Both goals were fun to see as a coach, because we had talked about it literally ten minutes before the first one," said Duncan. "We finally got the service we were looking for and Wes got up and climbed the ladder on a couple of big center backs which was nice to see. And Colton tracking that ball down on the second one and getting it to Wes was great to see."

Carson led the Central Arkansas attack on the night, putting both of his attempts on frame, while freshman Jacob Jerles and sophomore Pepe San Roman each added an attempt on goal. Harrison Veith made one save for the Bears

Central Arkansas returns to action on Sunday at noon, hosting the Cardinals of the University of Incarnate Word. "We've seen them on video and they play tonight, so they'll be just as tired as we are," said Duncan of the Bears' impending matchup. "The intensity will probably be a bit different, because it's a day game and it'll be hot, so we'll have to manage our fatigue and play a more tactical game, but they're a good opponent. They had a big win [over Oral Roberts] to open the season."