Conway – The Central Arkansas men's soccer team closed out the 2017 regular season in the rain against Oral Roberts on Tuesday night taking down the Golden Eagles 6-1. The Bears got a record-setting performance from sophomore Niklas Brodacki, who scored a school-record four goals in the match and set the program's Division I record with his first strike of the night.

"It's a nice feeling knowing that you're going into every game with the best attacking player in the conference," said UCA head coach Ross Duncan. "That doesn't mean he's going to score every game, but it means that if you do the job on the defensive side, then you're going to get a result you like. For me, he got the result for us tonight. There are a lot of guys that contributed, but we weren't at our best defensively, and he just decided to take the game over."

Pepe San Roman got the Bears (8-10-0) going in the 25^th minute, collecting a pass from Brodacki and firing a rocket that bounced off the back of an Oral Roberts (4-10-1) defender, off the cross bar, and in to give Central Arkansas a 1-0 lead with his fourth goal of the season.

That score would hold until the 55^th minute, when Brodacki would go to work, converting from the penalty spot to set the Central Arkansas Division I goals record with his 25^th career goal. ORU would get a goal from Corey Cantor in the 66^th minute, but Brodacki would put to rest any notion of a Golden Eagle rally, scoring his second and third goals of the night just 15 seconds apart to put UCA up 4-1 in the 67^th minute. Brodacki would add another record to his name in the 75^th minute, finishing off a combination by Christian Ilia and Lucas Genty by shrugging off his defender, turning and firing to the bottom right for his record fourth tally of the night. Genty would cap the match's scoring in the 85^th minute, collecting a rebound off of a blocked shot from Tyler Ridener and slotting it inside the back post for his second goal of the season.

"There wasn't any lack of commitment, or work-rate, or compete-level," said Duncan. "There was a lack of focus tonight. We've said it a lot, and we've talked about it a lot: our goal is to win this conference. Obviously we came to beat ORU tonight, but our goal is to win the Missouri Valley Conference, and we're going to have to play better defensively to do that. If you're a real competitor it doesn't matter what the weather is like, or who the opponent is, you come in and you compete, and that's what we did."

On the night, Central Arkansas controlled possession taking 21 shots and putting 10 on goal, while holding Oral Roberts to 14 shots, five of which were on goal. Brodacki put six of his nine attempts on frame, ending the night with four goals and an assist, while San Roman put one of his three shots on goal and wound up with a goal and an assist. Genty matched that total while firing his lone attempt on target, and Ilia and Niklas Sandquist each added an assist. In goal, Marc Olsen earned his eighth win of the season and made a pair of saves, while Rasmus Jonsson made two saves as well.

"The culture of the group is really strong, so when guys come in to play that haven't been, there isn't a big drop in level," said Duncan, who used nine substitutions on the night. "There is a belief in everyone that steps onto the field wearing our jersey, and I think that's going to be a big part of what dictates our success in Peoria."

The Bears will spend the next 10 days preparing for their appearance in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, which kicks off at Bradley University's Shea Stadium in Peoria, Illinois next Tuesday. Central Arkansas, who have secured the second seed in the tournament and receive a bye to the semifinals, will open play on Friday, November 10^th.

"We're calling it Preseason for the Postseason," said Duncan of his team's plans for the next week and a half. "We've got it all mapped out; what we're going to do each day. We're going to ask a lot of the guys on some of the days, but we're also going to get some much-needed rest. We've got some guys banged up, just like everybody else does, and we've got the luxury of a break, so we need to use that intelligently. But we aren't going to assume that we can sit around for ten days and come out firing, we're going to have to push the guys hard and create a competitive environment."