Conway – The Central Arkansas Bears closed out the regular season on Friday night, looking to become the fourth program in Southland Conference history to go undefeated in league play. The Bears did just that, overcoming a slow start and having to play a half down a player to take down Northwestern State 2-0.

After honoring the career achievements of seniors Shelby Wilson, Allie Coleman, Kelsey Johnson, and Chele Naudin, as well as junior Allie Moroney, the Bears (15-3-1, 10-0-1 SLC) and Lady Demons (10-7-1, 7-3-1 SLC) traded shots on goal in the first three minutes of the match. Over the next seven minutes, the Bears would four more shots, before the teams settled into the middle third of the field. The best look of the first half went to Central Arkansas, when sophomore Kristen Ricks fielded a pass in space on the right edge of the box and fired off the cross bar in the 33^rd minute.
 

"It was so great to be able to send our seniors off with a win, first off, but also in a game like this, where they had to dig deep, was great," said UCA head coach Jeremy Bishop. "Chele was playing a lone forward all night and just chasing all over the field, and Allie and Shelby were under a lot of pressure all night but the just kept fighting and going. And to be able to honor what KJ has done at the start of the game just made tonight a really special night."

Following a red card in the 39^th minute, the Bears dominated the second half, putting up 11 shots while limiting the Lady Demons to just five. UCA broke through in the 55^th minute, when Ricks lofted a ball over the Northwestern State back line and hit junior Alex Moore in stride. Moore beat Lady Demon keeper Alex Latham to the back post to put the Bears on top 1-0 with her fourth goal of the season. UCA would add to the lead in the 83^rd minute, when Moore played a ball to sophomore Ashley Smith, who went near post to extend the lead to 2-0 with her 11^th goal.

"I think the night being senior night, and getting Kelsey on the field, maybe just our focus away a little bit, which is okay," said UCA Bishop. "This is a night to enjoy, with the seniors, and celebrating Kelsey and her recovery, and what she's done to get back on the field. So we started a little slow, and maybe that was part of it. But I think the red card was the point that got us awake again. We started playing really well and creating some chances and at halftime we talked about some things that we could do in the second half and the girls executed it to perfection. Both of our goals were directly off of things we talked about, so credit to the girls for  staying focused and making the right plays."

On the night, the Bears put 11 of their 20 attempts on target, let by Smith, who was on frame with three of her four shots, and Wilson, who put three of her five attempts on goal. Moore, junior MaKayla Wilson, sophomore Camille Bassett, and freshman Jordan Slim each put one shot on goal. In net, junior Anna Hughes and sophomore Lauren Mercuri combined for their 11^th shutout of the season.

"It's a team defense," said Bishop of the Bears' clean sheets this season. "It starts with our forwards giving chase and steering the game to the midfielders, getting pressure on the ball, and our back line doing a great job of tackling anything in front of them and funneling anything behind them to the keeper. Our individual defending tonight was pretty good, but our team defending was awesome. Lauren and Anna have been huge in goal all season long, but it's team defense. When we do that well, we're pretty tough to get behind and pretty tough to score on."

The Bears earned the top seed in next week's Southland Conference Tournament by winning the SLC's regular season title. UCA, which received a first round bye in the tournament, will return to action on Friday night at 7:00 PM in Corpus Christi, Texas, taking on the winner of the first round match-up between fourth-seeded Houston Baptist and fifth-seeded Southeastern Louisiana.

"I think we have to recognize that the tournament is a difference animal," said Bishop of the Bears' next match. "We're going to play a team that we're familiar with, but teams are going to be playing faster and with more desire, because everybody knows that if they lose, they're out. But I think that if we are aware of that and have the right mindset, and we can continue doing the things we've been doing all season long, we'll have a pretty good chance in all of our games. It's a matter of us doing what we know we can do and then executing the plays, and if we do that we'll be in the games and then it's just down to finishing chances."