Little Rock, Arkansas – The Central Arkansas women's soccer team opened the 2017 season close to home on Friday night, heading to Little Rock to take on in-state rival UALR. Finding themselves down early, the Bears got a late equalizer, before falling in overtime.

Central Arkansas (0-1) controlled the ball early, getting shots from Maci Schoonover, Camille Bassett, and Jessica Pantuso in the first six minutes of the game, but it would be Little Rock (1-0) who would find the game's first goal, when Doro Greulich played a long pass to Arola Aparicio Gili, who chipped it over Central Arkansas keeper Anna Hughes for the 1-0 lead in the 13^th minute.

The sides would trade possession until the 30^th minute, when the Bears put together a run of pressure, getting three corner kicks from Pantuso and a header from Stacia Carroll in the span of three minutes. Central Arkansas would threaten again late in the half, as Lily Sultan fielded a corner from Hadley Dickinson and fired, but he shot would be knocked down by Trojan keeper Megan Swanson.

Central Arkansas generated a promising chance early in the second half, when Swanson was unable to cleanly collect a shot from Ashley Smith, allowing Schoonover to field the deflection and fire, but she pushed the attempt wide.

Set pieces continued to provide dangerous chances for Central Arkansas, with Swanson having to make yet another save when Carroll collected a corner kick from Pantuso and hammered it towards the net in the 63^rd minute, before the Bears finally found the equalizer off of a corner in the 74^th minute. Dickinson fired a corner into the Little Rock box and, with the Trojans unable to effectively clear the ball, ended up with it 30 seconds later. The UCA freshman would find a bit of open space and put it over Swanson, evening the match at 1-1 with her first collegiate goal. Smith would fie off two shots for the Bears in the remaining 15 minutes of regulation, and Bear keeper Lauren Mercuri would make a save in the 87^th minute to send the match to extra time.

Mercuri would make the save on a shot from Fali Garuba in the 92^nd minute, but the Trojans' Jaclyn Purvine would get the golden goal in the 95^th, dribbling through the UCA midfield and sliding the ball into the top-right corner, just past the outstretched fingers of a diving Mercuri, from distance.

"Obviously we wanted to come out with the win," said UCA head coach Jeremy Bishop following the match, "but it was a really good start to the season. Playing in competitive matches like this will prepare us well for conference play. Tonight could have gone either way; unfortunately we just didn't come through. But we had the effort and focus we need for success. We got to see things we need to fix, and we also saw a lot of things that work well for us. So we will work at those things nest week, but for now we will rest up and get ready for UAPB on Sunday."

On the night, the Bears were able to put six of their 12 shots on goal, led by Pantuso, Sultan and Dickinson, who each put their only attempt on frame. Carroll and Schoonover each took two shots and placed one on goal, while Smith was on target with one of her three attempts. In goal, Hughes and Mercuri each made four saves and allowed one goal.

The Bears return to action on Sunday afternoon, heading to Pine Bluff to take on UAPB. Kickoff is set for 3:00 PM.