Huntsville, Texas – The Central Arkansas women's soccer team will open the Southland Conference portion of its schedule on Friday evening, heading to Huntsville, Texas to take on the Sam Houston State Bearkats. Kickoff is set for 6:30 PM.

Central Arkansas (3-5-0, 0-0-0 SLC) is coming off of a road split last weekend, having dropped a 3-1 decision at Kansas State on Friday before defeating Oral Roberts 3-2 in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Sunday. On the season, UCA has scored 15 goals, good for fourth in the Southland at an average of 1.88 per game, while limiting its opponents to 12, which sits fifth in the league at 1.59 per game.

Individually, senior Dayna Mounie leads the Central Arkansas attack, ranking fifth in the SLC with three goals and seventh with seven points on the year. Sophomore Jordan Slim, freshman Hadley Dickinson, and senior Stacia Carroll have all found the net twice, while freshmen Lauren Hargus and MaciMaci Schoonover, sophomore Savannah Tidd, juniors Camille Bassett and Ashley Smith, and senior Avery Taylor have all added one goal. Senior Alex Moore leads the Bears in assists and is tied for second in the conference with three, while junior Kristen Ricks and sophomore Alex Wetteland are tied for seventh in the SLC with two assists. Mounie, Bassett, Schoonover, senior Jessica Pantuso, and freshman Dawson Depperschmidt all have one assist on the year.

"We haven't been getting some of the results, but we've been playing well," said UCA head coach Jeremy Bishop. "We could easily be 5-3. We weren't too worried about the results as long as we continued to play better throughout the non-conference schedule, and we did that. Cami and Ashley haven't quite been themselves yet because they've been battling some injuries, but it's nice to have the depth that we've got up front. Jordan has done really well, and we kind of anticipated that she would come in and have a good season, and Lauren has come in and done a good job of being an option for that target forward role."

One question the Bears had coming into the season was in the midfield, where graduated seniors Allie Coleman and Shelby Wilson started for the previous four seasons. Central Arkansas has seen multiple players rotate through the center midfield positions on the season, though Bishop is confident in his entire midfield group.

"Going into the season we had several people that we need to get a good look at," said Bishop. "So we committed to playing as many as we could through the non-conference to get some experience for everybody, but also to see how the pairings and match-ups worked. It's definitely starting to shake itself out. Jessica picked up an injury Sunday, and Autum Schwartz and Anslea Haikey as well, so the group has shrunk a little bit more than we would have liked, but the biggest thing for the group is to pick up the work. We have to have more effort in the defensive transition and in winning the fifty-fifty balls."

On the defensive front, the Bears have been consistent all season, with Carroll, Ricks, and junior Kelsey Quick starting all eight matches and senior MaKayla Wilson starting seven. In goal, Lauren Mercuri has played all eight matches and started the past four, while ranking in the top-ten in the Southland in goals against average (8^th, 1.39), save
percentage (10^th, .781), and saves (6^th, 25).

"Kristen and Stacia have been consistent for us for three or four years, and they've been consistent again this season," said Bishop. "Mack has been doing well, and Haylee Hulse has been able to step in when we need her as well. Our backline and our goalkeeping have been fine, we just have to continue to work to limit the opportunities, and that's through the midfield a lot of times. I think that we've given up some goals, but we haven't necessarily been giving up a lot of opportunities. So if we can keep limiting our opponent's opportunities, we'll be in good shape."

Sam Houston State (3-3-0, 0-0-0 SLC) enters Friday's matchup coming off a 2-1 win over Louisiana-Lafayette last Friday. The Bearkats sit second in the conference with an average of 2.67 goals per game and are 11^th in goals allowed, at 2.50 per game. Individually, sophomore Carlota Suarez Crespo and senior Beryl Smith are each tied for the conference lead with four goals, while sophomore Lexi Bullard has three assists and sophomore Hannah Dupin and freshman Courtney Pawlik have two each. In goal, junior Christina Hendershot has played 450 of SHSU's 540 minutes, and is allowing 2.80 goals per game while making 24 saves at a .632 clip.

"They're a good program that's had a lot of success, so we expect them to be closer to what they've been in past than to what they were last year," said Bishop of the Bearkats. "Going in there on the road, you've got to be able to grind it out, you've got to be disciplined in your defending shape, you've got to win the first ball, and the second ball, and all of the fifty-fifty balls. It'll just be about the hard work things for us; if we can do them well, I think we'll be fine."