Conway – The Central Arkansas women's soccer team opened Southland Conference play on Friday night, hosting Sam Houston State at the Bill Stephens Track/Soccer Complex. The Bears earned a 4-1 win on the night, defeating the Bearkats for the first time since 2007.

Central Arkansas (6-3-0, 1-0-0 SLC) dominated possession in the first half, taking 15 shots and putting eight on target while limiting Sam Houston State (0-9-0, 0-1-0 SLC) just four shots. The Bears got on the board in the 10^th minute, when sophomore Ashley Smith played a ball over the top of the SHSU back line to fellow sophomore Camille Bassett, who finished in the bottom-right corner to put the Bears up 1-0 with her third goal of the season. Smith got one of her own in the 20^th minute, collecting a rebound from junior Dayna Mounie and putting it away to push the UCA lead to 2-0 with her fourth goal of the year.

"Once you get into your scoring chances early, that's a really good feeling," said UCA head coach Jeremy Bishop. "We probably could have gotten some other goals, even before the one we got, so that would have been really nice, but we were creating chances, and we got them to go. I guess two in each half is pretty good."

Sam Houston cut into the lead in the in the 41^st minute, when Taylor Pritchard fired a free kick from 35 yards out, bouncing it off the cross bar and in to make it 2-1 UCA heading into halftime.

Smith and Bassett connected again in the 58^th minute, when Smith again played the ball forward to Bassett, who went bottom-left this time to push the UCA lead back to two goals with her fourth of the year. That lead would hold until the 84^th minute, when freshman Jordan Slim corralled a tip by SHSU keeper Bailey Swain and put it away to make it 4-1 UCA on her second goal of the season.

Bishop was proud of the work his forwards put in on the night, saying, "They did a great job of executing base on what we thought was going to happen coming into the game. Sam Houston plays a pretty high line on defense, and so we knew that Cami would have a lot of chances running through, which she did. It's a credit to her that she was able to stay onside, and to Ashley to be able to find the passes through the backline that she was able to find."

On the day, Central Arkansas took 23 shots, putting 12 of them on frame. Bassett led the way, as she was on target with five of her eight attempts, while Smith and senior Chele Naudin each added a pair of shots on goal. Slim, Mounie, and junior Alex Moore each chipped in with a single shot on goal.

In the net for the Bears, Anna Hughes made a pair of saves to earn her fourth win of the year. Lauren Mercuri made three saves in the second half.

"It's a great start to the conference season to get a win, and it's even better to do it against a team that we haven't been able to beat," said Bishop of the Bears' win. "We've played some close games with them over the years, going to overtime last year, and then the shootout in the tournament, so it's definitely great to get one in the win column, especially against them."

Central Arkansas returns to action with a pair of conference matches next weekend. The Bears will take to the pitch against McNeese State at 7:00 PM on Friday night in Lake Charles, Louisiana, before heading to Beaumont, Texas to square off with Lamar at 1:00 PM on Sunday afternoon.