Conway – The Central Arkansas men's soccer team returned to action on Sunday afternoon, playing host to the Incarnate Word Cardinals at the Bill Stephens Complex. The Bears got the game's first goal, but ultimately fell in overtime 2-1.

"I thought, from Friday night, we got the response we needed to get the win today," said UCA head coach Ross Duncan. "Defensively, we were stout, we didn't break down, we didn't give them good chance. Their goals were opportunistic; they were good goals, but they came because they got a bounce in a nice spot and were able to put it away. For us, the response we needed was there. We're not content with that obviously, we're here to get results and victories."

Both sides had chances early in the first half, with Incarnate Word (1-1-0) getting a pair of shots in the first six minutes and Central Arkansas (0-2-0) responding with chances from Christian Ilia and Niklas Brodacki over the next 10 minutes, but neither side would be able to break through in the first half.

Pepe San Roman got the Bears their first solid look of the second half, firing a rocket that was saved by UIW's Brendan Brown in the 54^th minute, before contributing to the game's first goal with a corner kick to Kasper Andersen in the box. Before he could turn and fire, Anderson was dragged down from behind to draw the penalty kick, which Brodacki converted to give the Bears the 1-0 lead. The edge would hold for eight minutes, until the Cardinals' Roberto Diaz collected a pass from Robert Pratt and fired through a group of UCA defenders, somehow guiding the ball through the group and in off the post for the equalizer. Donald Benamna would get a solid look at a game-winner with just two-and-a-half minutes to play, fielding a pass on the breakaway from Lucas Genty, but his attempt was pushed wide by a sprawling Brown.

It appeared that San Roman had found the golden goal for the Bears just 59 seconds into overtime, as he was able to create space in the box and fire a shot past Brown, but his attempt glanced the wrong way off of the post for a UIW goal kick. With the clock counting down in the first overtime period, the Cardinals would find the game-winner, as Joe Brown played a ball across the box to Marjian Gamsjaeger, who headed it home from eight yards out.

On the day, Central Arkansas put seven of its 15 shots on goal. Brodacki, San Roman, and Benamna led the way for the Bears, with each putting two shots on frame, while Krystian Sarzynski added one shot on target. Rasmus Jonsson had a pair of saves over 93 minutes played, while making his first career start in goal for the Bears, while Sebastian Thomsson took the loss for Central Arkansas.

"We put ourselves in more than enough positions to win the game" said Duncan. "But that's the way the game works; it bounces off the post and in for them, and it bounces off the post and out in overtime for us. Whether you want to attribute that to luck or to hard work, it just didn't work out today, but we'll push through and make sure it does next time."

The Bears hit the road for a pair of matches in North Carolina next weekend. UCA will battle Appalachian State at 4:00 PM on Friday afternoon, before facing off with Campbell at 12:00 PM on Sunday.

"We're going out for results, it's a business trip and we're approaching it that way," said Duncan of the trip to the east coast. "That's part of the reason that we traveled the way we did in the preseason, so that we wouldn't be surprised by the bus ride or by playing two games in three days, and we're going to be prepared physically and tactically. We know a lot about the opponents and we'll share that with the boys throughout the week to make sure they're ready."