Colorado Springs, Colorado – The Central Arkansas Bears will open play in their second NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship on Thursday, traveling to Colorado Springs, Colorado to square off with the Air Force Falcons at Cadet Soccer Stadium.  Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM Central Time.

Central Arkansas earned the Missouri Valley Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by earning a pair of wins in last weekend's MVC Tournament, opening play with a 2-2 draw with fourth-seeded Missouri State that saw UCA advance 5-4 on penalty kicks. The Bears would then defeat second-seeded Loyola 2-1 in the championship match, getting a penalty shot from Niklas Brodacki and a header off the cross bar from Daltyn Knutson to become the first team to repeat as MVC Tournament Champs since Creighton in 2011-12.

The Bears enter Thursday's match averaging 1.59 goals per game on 14.9 shots, while limiting the opposition to 1.24 goals on 12.0 shots. Brodacki, who last week became just the fourth player to earn MVC Player of the Year honors multiple times, leads the Central Arkansas attack with nine goals, while All-MVC First Teamer Knutston and Jake Bates have each found the net three times and assisted on three goals. UCA has had six other players find goals, including All-MVC First Team honoree Kasper Andersen (2 goals, 3 assists), Second Team selection Chris Holmes (1 goal, 2 assists) , and All-MVC Honorable Mention Soren Jensen (2 goals, 5 assists). In goal, All-MVC Honorable Mention Marc Olsen has seen the majority of action, playing 1,309 of a possible 1,610 minutes, and allowing 1.24 matches per game while pitching five shutouts.

Air Force earned an at-large bid after falling in the WAC Tournament semi-finals 1-0 to Grand Canyon. Despite the loss the Falcons are still ranked 17^th in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25, while sitting 20^th in the College Soccer News Top 30.

Air Force features one of the most proficient attacks in the nation, averaging 2.53 goals on 15.8 shots, both of which rank in the top ten nationally. The Falcon attack is led by WAC Offensive Player of the Year Tucker Bone, who has scored 12 goals and added six assists, and Austin Dewing, who has chipped in with 11 goals and four assists. The Air Force defense, which has allowed 0.74 goals per game and 9.8 shots, is anchored by WAC Defensive Player of the Year Andrea Seazzu, who has made 52 saves and has an 0.70 goals against average while tallying five shutouts in 1,673 minutes played.

The match between the Bears and Falcons can be viewed on the WAC Digital Network (http://www.wacdigitalnetwork.com/), while live stats can be found at http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=afa .

The winner of the contest will advance to a second-round matchup will make the short trip to Denver, Colorado to take on fifteenth-seeded Denver on Sunday.