Conway – The Central Arkansas men's soccer team will open Missouri Valley Conference Tournament play this evening at 6:00 PM, and they'll do it against perhaps their most familiar foe, in Missouri State. The MVC semifinals will mark the third time this season that the purple Bears and maroon Bears have squared off.

On the year, Central Arkansas (7-7-2, 4-3-1 MVC) earned the fourth seed in this week's MVC tournament, and ranked third in the Valley in points (78), goals (26), and assists (26), while sitting third in shutouts (6) and fourth in goals allowed (20) and goals against average (1.20) this season. Individually, freshman Niklas Brodacki led the Valley in scoring, netting 13 goals and picking up 27 points. The Norrkoping, Sweden native sits in the top ten nationally in goals per game (4^th, 0.81), total goals (6^th, 13), points per game (9^th, 1.69), and game-winning goals (9^th, 5), while leading all freshmen nationally in goals and points. Senior Wes Carson, who led the Valley in goals and points last year, has chipped in five goals and three assists this season to ranks sixth in goals and tie for seventh in the league in points. Sophomore Daltyn Knutson sits fourth in the MVC with six assists. In goal, the Bears have depended on freshman Marc Olsen, who has responded well, tying for the program record with six shutouts so far this season. The Copenhagen, Denmark product ranks second in the Valley in save percentage (.802), total saves (81), and saves per game (5.06), while sitting third in shutouts and fourth in GAA (1.18).

Missouri State (8-7-2, 3-4-1 MVC), who will play host this week, earned the fifth seed behind a stout defense that limited its opponents to just 15 goals in 17 matches for a GAA of 0.88. The maroon Bears found the back of the net 17 times this year, good for an average of 1.00 goals per game. Individually, senior Emmerich Hoegg leads the way for MSU, tying for 10^th in the Valley with four goals while junior Robbie Oslica has found the net three times from the Missouri State back line. Senior Phil Woods and sophomore Jake Buckle have each tallied three assists this season. In goal, junior Liam Priestly ranks third in the MVC in save percentage (.737), GAA (0.85), and shutouts (6).

Missouri State holds an 8-3-1 edge in the all-time series with UCA, though the teams have split this season's first two meetings. MSU earned a 1-0 win in Springfield on October 8^th, while the purple Bears responded with a 1-0 win of their own at the Bill Stephens Complex just five days ago. The winner of tonight's match will move on to the semifinals to face off with top-seeded and 13^th-ranked Loyola at 6:00 PM on Friday night.

"I don't think there is a team in the country right now that we are more familiar with," said UCA head coach Ross Duncan of Missouri State. "And the fact that we just played them gives us good insight to their most recent performance. It will be more about breaking down that game and seeing where they hurt us and where we hurt them."

Duncan continued, saying, "They put us under a lot of pressure on Saturday night, which gave us trouble. It's going to be important for us to be able to absorb that pressure and not allow it to give them any momentum. After going through the film, there are a lot of areas that we can strengthen from the last performance. We did a lot of things well to get the result at home, but we really need to sharpen up for tonight."

Duncan closed by saying, "We haven't had a lot of time to train, but the reps we've had have been very good. The guys look recovered from Saturday, and I expect to see one of our best performances yet."