Conway – The Central Arkansas men's soccer team returned to the pitch at the Bill Stephens Complex after 13 days away, hosting the Drake Bulldogs in Missouri Valley Conference Action. The Bears earned their second-straight MVC win, getting goals from Pepe San Roman, Chris Holmes, and Niklas Brodacki to earn a 3-1 win.

Drake (3-7-0, 0-2-0 MVC) got the game's first shot, a header from Alex Peterson four minutes in, but the Bears (3-6-0, 2-1-0 SLC) then settled into possession, getting three corner kicks and shots from Lucas Genty and San Roman in the next eight minutes. Central Arkansas' first chance on goal came in the 18^th minute, as Drake keeper Caden McCullough was able to make the save on an attempt from Kyosuke Kubota, and just 21 seconds later a corner from San Roman led to a header from Jake Bates that McCullough was able to stop.

Central Arkansas keeper Marc Olsen was called upon for the first time in the 30^th minute, making the save on Ryan Meredith's shot, before picking up another save in the 39^th minute on a shot from Jake Taylor. The Bulldogs would get their final decent look of the half in the 41^st minute, on a shot from Aleksi Tuiminen, but Olsen was again up to the task.

Central Arkansas again controlled possession to open the second half, getting shots a pair of shots from Genty to go along with attempts from Bates, Donald Benamna, and Brodacki in the first eight minutes of the period. It wouldn't be until the 56^th minutes that the Bears would break through though, as a Drake yellow card set San Roman up for a free kick from 25 yards out on the right wing. The UCA senior curled the ball over the wall and off McCullough's finger tips, putting the Bears up 1-0 with his second goal of the season.

Central Arkansas would continue to control the pace over the next 20 minutes, before getting another goal in the 81^st minute, as Brodacki connected with Holmes, who shook his defender, took a touch, and fired an arcing shot to the top-right corner of the net from 35 yards out.

"For Pepe that's really cool, because he's come so close with those. He's hit the crossbar in overtime two years in a row, he's hit the post on free kicks multiple times, and to come away in a game like this, where our team was begging for a goal, is just awesome," said Duncan. "And for Chris, the double scissors and touch inside and strike is kind of his signature, he's good for that, and I think he's got another couple in him this year. But tonight we asked him to play out of position to shut the game down, and not only did he do that, but he also helped put the game out of reach."

Drake would cut the lead to 2-1 in the 87^th minute, when Stafford Dowling found Leroy Enzugusi, who wound a shot through the UCA defense, but the Bears would need just 19 seconds to respond, as Daltyn Knutson and Holmes combined off of the restart to find Brodacki streaking into the Bulldog box. The sophomore gathered and shot, overwhelming McCullough for his sixth goal of the season.

"That's why you have a guy like Niklas on the team; if you give him enough chances he's going to score on you, and that's what Drake did," said Duncan. "They gambled, they were throwing numbers forward to try and get back in the game, and it worked for them; they did get back into it. Fortunately we've got a guy like Nik to have moments of brilliance like that. It was really needed, because it was going to be a very tense three minutes if it had stayed 2-1."

On the night, the Bears outshot the Bulldogs two-to-one, holding a 20-10 advantage, while doubling up Drake in shots on goal to the tune of an 8-4 edge. Brodacki accounted for half of those shots on frame, as he was accurate with four of his six attempts on the night, while San Roman, Holmes, Bates, and Kubota each put one shot on target. In goal, Olsen made three saves to earn the win.

"A concern with a quick turn around after a good result is that guys will approach the second game thinking that they've already done enough," said Duncan in reference to UCA's win over Valparaiso just three days ago. "We were really careful in the build-up for tonight's match to remind them of why we got that result on Saturday, and how it worked. It's going to be like that the rest of the way' we don't have any easy games that we can just show up to win. We knew that Drake was going to be a high-powered team with a lot off attack. I think we did a good job on the day of limiting their front three and making sure they didn't hurt us."
 
The Bears hit the road again, heading to Chicago, Illinois to take on the Loyola Ramblers at 7:00 PM Saturday night.

"Loyola is a team that's always going to be really organized, really well-coached, and they've got a lot of experience," said Duncan of the Ramblers. "To be honest, I'm surprised with the results that they've had, but I'm not expecting them to not be who they are. For me they're a better team than they were last year, when they spent most of the year in the top five of the RPI, so we're expecting our most difficult match on Saturday."