Conway – The Central Arkansas women's soccer team opened their home schedule in style on Sunday night, picking up a 1-0 win over Little Rock in front of the second-largest crowd in program history. The victory was the second ever for the Bears over the Trojans, and the first since 2012.

Neither side was able to gain much momentum throughout the early portion of the game, as each team was able to tally a single shot on goal through the game's first 25 minutes. Central Arkansas (1-1-0) finally found a breakthrough in the 39^th minute, when senior Chele Naudin and junior Alex Moore completed a combination of passes to freshman Jordan Slim, who broke through the Trojan (0-2-0) back line. With Little Rock keeper Sara Small bearing down on her, Slim slid the ball just under her and into the net to give the Bears the 1-0 lead with the first goal of her career.

"That was one of those that you work on," said Central Arkansas head coach Jeremy Bishop. "As one forward comes up and challenges, the other comes forward and looks for the ball over the top, and Chele was there challenging it slipped through and Jordan was able to get behind them and beat the keeper. That's the way that on any ball that goes forward on a goal kick or punt, you want one challenging and one going in, and that's what they did."

Little Rock ramped up the pressure in the second half, outshooting Central Arkansas by a tally of 15-1 in the period, but the Bears' defense never broke. Despite three Trojan attempts off the cross bar, the Bears hung on and secured the shutout victory.

On the night, Central Arkansas took seven shots, putting four on goal. Slim, Camille Bassett, Dayna Mounie, and Ashley Smith were all able to put an attempt on frame. In goal for the Bears, Anna Hughes made a pair of saves in the first half, while Lauren Mercuri picked up four stops in the second half to complete the clean sheet.

Bishop credited the 519 fans in attendance at the Stephens with helping his team gut out the win, saying, "I think that the way that game went, where we had to kind of hang on at the end, the big crowd was huge in helping the girls stay motivated and focused to finish the job. It's a good mark for your program when you can win a game when you're not playing well, and I think that's what we did tonight. We didn't play our best, we didn't handle their pressure very well, but we got the result and we'll take it."

Central Arkansas returns to action next weekend, hosting Tulsa at the Stephens on Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM. "I haven't looked at Tulsa yet this year, but historically they're a good team that is well coached, very athletic, and a tough opponent," said Bishop. "We've gone to them the last couple of years, so it's good to have them coming here. Hopefully we can get a good week of training on the field, it feels like we've been indoors for a month, and get ready for that one."