Conway – The Central Arkansas men's soccer team will open the 2016 season on the road this weekend, taking on UMKC in Kansas City, Missouri on Friday night before travelling to Springfield, Missouri for a neutral site match-up with Green Bay.

"The preseason has been good for us, so we're going into the weekend with confidence," said UCA head coach Ross Duncan. "We've spent every day since August 10^th setting our system and going through every wrinkle. Our boys understand exactly what we want to do, and now we've got the chance to put it all together against UMKC."

The Bears made a return to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in 2015 season, led by senior Wes Carson, who led the league with nine goals and 21 points. Central Arkansas returns 17 letterwinners from last year's squad, including senior Jordan Bates and junior Blake Stricker, who each played over 1,400 minutes in the back for the Bears last season.

Central Arkansas played a pair of exhibition matches during the preseason, picking up a 3-0 win over Christian Brothers and dropping a 3-2 decision at Tulsa. Duncan was pleased with the lessons his team learned in each match, saying, "Christian Brothers gave a chance to go through a lot of our attacking ideas and develop relationships on that side of the ball. Tulsa exposed some weaknesses that we were able to address this week in training. But we also responded well in that game and showed that we have a lot of fight in us. We are a very competitive group and I am expecting big things from the guys."

UMKC went 6-9-2 last season, including a 4-5-1 record in the Western Athletic Conference. The 'Roos were picked to finish 10^th in the WAC by the league's coaches this season. UMKC returns eight started and 12 letterwinners from last year's team, led by sophomores Pandelis Papgeorgiev (4 goals, 3 assists in 2015) and Diego Serfaty (3 goals). The 'Roos lead the all-time series against the Bears 8-2, with a 2-1 win in last year's meeting. The Bears' most recent victory came in 2013, when they scored a 3-0 win over the 'Roos in Conway.

Green Bay tallied a 5-10-3 record for the 2015 season and went 2-5-2 in Horizon League play. The Phoenix were picked to finish eighth in the Horizon this season by the league's head coaches. They are led by midfielder Audi Jepson, who was named All-Horizon second team last season after collecting four goals and four assists. Sunday will mark the first meeting between the Bears and the Phoenix.