Conway – The Central Arkansas men's soccer team took to the pitch at the Bill Stephens Complex on Tuesday night, looking to avenge a 1-0, double overtime loss to the Evansville Aces earlier this season. The Bears did just that, taking down the Aces 2-0 to earn their first Missouri Valley Conference win of the season.

Though both Central Arkansas (3-7-1, 1-3-0 MVC) and Evansville (6-6-1, 2-2-0 MVC) generated scoring chances in the first half, it wasn't until the 64^th minute that the game featured a goal. UCA sophomore Daltyn Knutson played a ball down the left side to senior Wes Carson, who played a beautiful ball across the face of the box to freshman Niklas Brodacki. Brodacki played a one-timer to beat Evansville keeper Frederik Reimer and give UCA a 1-0 lead with his seventh goal of the season.

"That was an amazing goal," said UCA head coach Ross Duncan of the Bears' first strike. "Wes had just subbed in, and he made an immediate impact. What a ball he played over the top! And that's why we brought Brodacki into the squad; first-time finish off the outside of his foot, that's a very, very difficult technique."

Just three minutes later, the Bears would add an insurance goal. A foul in the box sent junior Pepe San Roman to the penalty spot, where he hammered his attempt inside the right post to push the lead to 2-0 with his first goal of the season.

"In preparation for this game, we really championed the attacking midfielders, because we'd been going away from them and those guys provide so much service for us," said Duncan. "So to get those guys on the ball makes us tick and it allows us to create attacking chances, and that's what Pepe's been doing every time he gets it. Really all of the guys in that role, from him to Chris Holmes, to Christian Ilia, to Harris Partain, have been doing that, we just haven't been getting the ball to them."

The Aces would get five shots over the match's final 25 minutes, but the Central Arkansas defense was up to the task, preventing Evansville from putting any of those five attempts on goal.

"The group had a ton of belief," said Duncan of his team, which had led in the 76^th minute or later in four of its last six matches but was 0-5-1 over that period. "They never dropped that piece of it, which is huge. We've all been part of teams in the past where you're not quite sure of yourself, but our guys never lost that, we were just looking for those moments to come up big and push over the line and tonight was the night. It's nice, because it's been a long time coming, but we knew it was in us the whole time; we were just waiting for guys to step up and make big plays, which we did tonight."

On the day, Central Arkansas took 16 shots and placed three on goal, getting shots on target from Brodacki, San Roman, and Holmes. In goal, freshman Marc Olsen made three saves to earn his third shutout of the season.

Central Arkansas hits the road for another MVC match-up later this week, heading to Peoria, Illinois to face off against the Bradley Braves. Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM on Saturday evening.

"Bradley is an incredibly difficult place to play," said Duncan of the Bears' trip to Shea Stadium. "They've always got a great crowd, they're team is always completely committed to their cause, they're physical and athletic, and they're just difficult. They're a team that doesn't play like anyone else, so for us it's going to be about prepping for a tactic that we haven't seen yet. We'll be prepared, there's no doubt about that, we've seen them play a couple of times already."