Conway – The Central Arkansas women's soccer team returned to the pitch at the Bill Stephens Complex on Sunday night, hosting in-state rival Arkansas State. Despite dominating the game, the Bears found themselves on the wrong side of the decision, falling 1-0.

Arkansas State (3-2) fired off the game's first three shots, but Central Arkansas controlled possession for the remaining 30 minutes, firing off 10 shots in that span while limiting the Red Wolves to just two. Camille Bassett and Dayna Mounie each put a shot on target before the 20^th minute, before the Bears turned up the pressure, getting solid chances from Jessica Pantuso, Bassett, Jordan Slim, and Mounie in a five minute stretch midway through the period. Maci Schoonover would miss on a pair of shots late in the half, before Anika Sultan fired a rocked from just inside the box that ASU keeper Megan McClure was able to corral.

Arkansas State started the second half strongly, firing off four shots before the Bears regained control of the match, getting a pair of shots from Alex Moore plus attempts from Schoonover, Pantuso, and Lauren Hargus in a three-minute stretch. Each team would generate chances over the final 20 minutes of the match, but it wouldn't be until there were just 29 seconds remaining that one would break through, when Maggie Ertl played a ball across the box to Haily Furio, who chipped it over UCA keeper Anna Hughes from 25 yards out for the game-winner.

On the day, Central Arkansas was on able to fire off 16 shots, putting nine on goal. Moore, Bassett, and Hargus led the way with two shots on frame each, while Sultan, Slim, and Mounie each put one shot on target. In goal, Lauren Mercuri made one save, while Hughes made three.

"It's frustrating, but that's the way the game goes sometimes; the better team doesn't always win because it's hard to score goals," said UCA head coach Jeremy Bishop. "No matter what you do as far as creating opportunities sometimes, they just don't go. That's where we have to be strong and know that if we keep putting ourselves in those spots that the goals will come. We just have to keep working, we're creating opportunities."

Central Arkansas hits the road to open a three-match road trip next weekend. The Bears will travel to Manhattan, Kansas to take on Kansas State at 7:00 PM on Friday night, before heading to Tulsa, Oklahoma to face off with Oral Roberts at 1:00 PM Sunday. The Bears will then open Southland Conference play on Friday, September 15^th, traveling to Huntsville, Texas for a 6:30 PM match at Sam Houston State.

"Definitely a tough stretch ahead of us," said Bishop. "That trip up to Kansas and Oklahoma will feature two very good teams, so it'll be a test for us, to work on some things on the field and develop that mentality of playing a full ninety minutes as hard as we can and fighting through. We'll get that going next weekend so that we can develop it and sharpen it so that when we hit conference play we'll be off and running."