Huntsville, Texas – The Central Arkansas women's soccer team opened Southland Conference play on Friday night, facing off with Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas. The Bears took advantage of a pair of first half goals, taking down the Bearkats 2-1 for their first win in Huntsville since 2007.
Central Arkansas (4-5-0, 1-0-0 SLC) came out of the gates firing, needing just 97 seconds to take a 1-0 lead. After
Hadley Dickinson's shot was blocked by a Sam Houston (3-4-0, 0-1-0 SLC) defender,
Kristen Ricks collected the rebound and beat SHSU keeper Christina Hendershot to the left post, putting UCA up with her first career goal. The Bears would strike again in the 26
th minute, as
Ashley Smith gathered her own rebound and fired a shot off of a Bearkat defender that bounced past Hendershot to make it 2-0. The goal is Smith's second of the season.
The Bearkats would answer in the 68
th minute, as Lindsey Bienksi would outjump everyone in the box on a corner kick from Meredith Carlson, but the Bears would limit SHSU to just one shot on goal for the remaining 22 minutes to preserve the victory.
On the day, the Central Arkansas was outshot by Sam Houston State 16-13, though the Bears held a 8-7 advantage in shots on goal. Smith led the Bears with a pair of shots on frame, while Ricks, Dickinson,
Camille Bassett,
Jordan Slim,
Anslea Haikey, and
Maci Schoonover each put a single shot on target. In goal,
Lauren Mercuri made six saves to earn the win.
"Conference road wins are hard to come by, so it was great to get out of there with one tonight," said UCA head coach Jeremy Bishop. "We put in hard work tonight and really competed on the fifty-fifty balls, which was huge for us. Getting the early goals was great and we did a good job of holding on in the second half, and keeping them out of the box on most of their shots.
Central Arkansas will take the rest of the weekend off, before returning home for a pair matches next weekend. The Bears will welcome SLC leader Lamar at 7:00 PM on Friday night, before taking on McNeese at 1:00 PM on Sunday.
