Conway – The Central Arkansas women's soccer team closed out a three match homestand by playing host to Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday afternoon. The Bears got goals from three different players on the day, pushing their all-time record against the Lady Lions to 6-1 with a 3-0 win.

After a relatively slow start in which the teams combined for a pair of shots on goal in the first 30 minutes, the Bears (2-2-0) got on the board when junior Alex Moore fielded a cross at the right side of the box and played it back to freshman Anslea Haikey at the top of the box. Haikey slotted it just inside the back post, putting Central Arkansas on top with her first career goal.

The Bears would add to their lead in the 53^rd minute, when junior Stacia Carroll played a ball over the top of the Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-2-0) line to senior Chele Naudin who fired a rocket into the top-right corner of the net. With just six minutes to play, the Bears added another insurance goal, as junior Avery Taylor played another ball over the Lady Lions to sophomore Ashley Smith, who also went top-right to make it 3-0 in favor of the Bears.

"That's something we had talked about, was finding a gap in the center backs," said UCA head coach Jeremey Bishop. "That's a big point of emphasis for us, is just being coachable. So for them to put into play things that we're seeing and talking about at halftime or before the game is huge. We weren't doing a good job of finding that gap early one, because their outside backs were stepping up to put pressure on our outside mids, and so we talked about it and started finding combinations that gave us scoring chances and a couple of goals."

On the day, the Bears put up 27 shots, and were on target with 13 of them. Junior Jessica Pantuso led the way with three shots on target, while Smith, Moore, and Haikey each put a pair of shots on frame. Naudin, sophomore Kristen Ricks, and freshmen Carlee Spears and Jordan Slim all added single shot on goal. Junior Anna Hughes and sophomore Lauren Mercuri split time in goal for the Bears, with each making a save in a half of play.

"We played better in the second half than we did in the first, which is something that we haven't done yet this season," said Bishop. "I think that we did a better job of finding the open player so that we could keep possession, as well as moving off the ball. And that's a big key, just our movement and possession. The girls were looking for each other quicker in the second half, so that was really good."

Central Arkansas hits the road for a pair of matches next weekend. The Bears will head to Jonesboro on Thursday afternoon to take on in-state opponent Arkansas State at 4:00 PM, before heading to Monroe, Louisiana on Sunday to battle Louisiana-Monroe. Kickoff is set for 1:00 PM.