CONWAY, Ark. _ The Central Arkansas Bears fought through rainy conditions and shut out the Nicholls Colonels 4-0 at home on Friday night at the Bill Stephens Complex for their seventh straight victory.
The Bears took a narrow 1-0 lead into the half, but scored three times in the second half to ensure the win. Four different Bears found the net as Connie Awuku-Darkoh connected on her 10th goal, Anika Sultan got her fourth and both Savannah Tidd and Hadley Dickinson netted their third of the year. Camille Bassett and Kristen Ricks provided assists on the evening.
UCA head coach Jeremy Bishop said that it took some halftime adjustments to pull away from the Colonels.
"They (Nicholls) played a really good game in the first half and had a good plan against us that was different than what we thought they'd do,' BIshop said. "We didn't adjust to their plan well on the fly. We were able to talk at halftime how we could attack them a little better and we created some good scoring opportunities that we were able to put away.'
The Bears only saw two shots go on goal in the first half but capitalized on their first as they wasted no time and found the net in the first minute of the game. Awuku-Darkoh fired a shot off a cross that was blocked and it rolled to Dickinson as she put it away up the middle to give her team the early 1-0 lead. The Colonels put pressure on UCA goalkeeper Lauren Mercuri as they landed four shots on goal in the first half. Mercuri was tested in the 21st minute as she fought off two shots and watched one get blocked by one of her teammates.
Central Arkansas came close to taking a 2-0 lead into halftime when Bria Williams found herself with an open net in the 41st minute, but her shot sailed wide left and the score remained 1-0 after 45 minutes.
The adjustments that Bishop made at half proved effective as his team went right at the Colonels to start the second half. After two Bears shots that could not find the goal, Awuku-Darkoh launched a shot that went off the post and fell back to her as she finished it for her team-high 10th of the year in the 49th minute. Bassett nearly found her 10th of the year in the 51st minute, but could not get past Nicholls goalkeeper Roosa Hurmerinta. The Bears next shot on goal was successful in the 68th minute as Sultan played a pass that was crossed across goal and finished it in the left corner to advance her team to a 3-0 lead.
The fun did not stop there though as Tidd found the goal in the 89th minute after Autum Schwartz's shot was saved but not cleared. The Bears offense roared in the second half as they had 18 shots and finished with 27 on the night.
The first-place Bears improved to 13-3-1 (8-1 SLC) and will look to continue their win streak and stay undefeated at home as they will host the Southeastern Louisiana Lady Lions at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Stephens Complex.
