Lake Charles, Louisiana –  The Central Arkansas women's soccer team returned to Southland Conference action on the road on Friday night heading to Lake Charles, Louisiana to battle the McNeese Cowgirls. The Bears built a 3-0 lead in the first half before adding a two more in the second half to earn their sixth shutout of the season and their sixth victory in their last seven matches.

Central Arkansas (7-3, 2-0 SLC) wasted no time in getting on the board, as senior Shelby Wilson connected with junior Alex Moore in the third minute. Moore hammered the ball home to give the Bears a 1-0 lead with her second goal of the season. Moore would add to the lead in the 26^th minute, gathering a pass from sophomore Camille Bassett and putting it away push the lead to 2-0.

"Going into the game, we really expected it to be a competitive one, so for us to get one early was big," said UCA head coach Jeremy Bishop. "It really took the pressure off and let us play relaxed the rest of the way."

Just two minutes later, Moore fired again, but saw her shot blocked and deflected to sophomore Ashley Smith, who made it 3-0 UCA with her fifth of the year in the 28^th minute.

The second half started even more quickly for the Bears, as Wilson found junior Dayna Mounie, who pushed the UCA lead to 4-0 just 65 seconds into the second half with her first of the season. The match's final goal came in the 54^th minute, when Moore slid a pass to Mounie, who beat McNeese (4-5, 0-2 SLC) keeper Annie Bravenec give the Bears a 5-0 lead.

"The biggest thing for us is that we were able to finish off our chances tonight," said Bishop. "A lot of the time, you create the chance, but then you mishit it or put straight at the keeper, but tonight we finished our chances off really well."

On the night, Central Arkansas was able to put 10 of its 18 shots on goal while limiting the Cowgirls to just three shots on goal in 10 attempts. Mounie led the way, putting all three of her attempts on frame, while Moore, Smith, and freshman Anslea Haikey each put two shots on target. Bassett was on target with one shot on the night. In goal for UCA, junior Anna Hughes and sophomore Lauren Mercuri combined for three saves. 

"After watching film, we really thought that we would be able to have some success with our outside midfielders, and on both sides Alex and Dayna were able to get around them tonight. But even more than that, they were both able to get themselves into really good spots. Both of them had a goal tonight that came from getting behind the back line, getting into position, and us getting a really good cross into them that they were able to finish."

With the 5-0 win over McNeese, the Bears have now outscored their opponents 9-1 over their first two Southland Conference games, their best two-game stretch at any point since joining the league in 2006.

"We've done a lot of really good things so far, so I think that's definitely a big thing for our confidence moving forward," said Bishop. "The trick is taking those things and letting them build our confidence, but also continuing to do them well."

The Bears close out the weekend at Lamar on Sunday afternoon, with kickoff set for 1:00 PM.

"They've been playing some tough games this season, and they look like a competitive team with some dangerous players, so we'll have to be ready to play once again," said Bishop of his team's upcoming match.