Conway – The Central Arkansas men's soccer team will open its Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title defense on Friday evening at 6:00 PM, taking on a familiar foe in the Missouri State Bears. Top-seeded Central Arkansas and fourth-seeded MSU will be meeting for the second time in the last seven days and the seventh time in the last three years.
"It's always an interesting challenge to play the same opponent twice in less than a week," said UCA head coach Ross Duncan. "We will be expecting another competitive match and our boys will be ready. We know we have an even bigger target on our backs, so we need to bring an even greater competitive mentality to the match.
Central Arkansas (7-5-3, 4-1-1 MVC) enters the match with the strongest offense in the Missouri Valley, averaging 1.53 goals per game and putting 106 shots on target this season (7.07/game). The Bears feature a host of attacking options, beginning with MVC Player of the Year
Niklas Brodacki (7 goals, 14 points), who is tied for ninth in MVC history with 37 career goals. UCA features a host of options to support the three-time MVC Offensive Player of the Year, in
Jake Bates (3 goals, 3 assists), All-MVC First Team selection
Kasper Andersen (2 goals, 3 assists), and All-MVC Honorable Mention
Soren Jensen (2 goals, 5 assists), while
Alberto Suarez,
Moiad Ankir, and
Ole Kjoerholt have all added a pair of goals as well.
The Central Arkansas attack is filtered through arguably the best midfield in the Valley, with All-MVC Second Team selection
Chris Holmes (1 goal, 2 assists) doing the dirty work to allow
Christian Ilia (6 assists) and Jensen to connect with the UCA attackers.
Bates and Kjoerholt anchor the Central Arkansas back line, keeping pressure off of All-MVC Honorable Mention keeper
Marc Olsen, who is tied for third in the league with 5 shutouts. The Bears enter the match allowing just 4.07 shots on goal per match.
The x-factor for the purple Bears is All-MVC First Team selection
Daltyn Knutson, who has split his time between the midfield and the back line this season, scoring a goal and adding three assists while filling other roles as needed.
Where UCA earned a bye into the semifinals thanks to their MVC title, MSU (9-2-5, 2-2-2 MVC) enters following a 5-2 win over host and fifth-seeded Evansville that saw the maroon Bears overcome a 2-0 deficit in the 22
nd minute with five consecutive goals. MSU has scored 24 goals this season (1.5/game) led by All-MVC First Teamer Josh Dolling. The maroon Bears, who are allowing just 0.69 goals per game, are particularly effective in the first 45 minutes, outscoring their opponents 13-3 in the first half this season. That MSU defense is anchored by a trio of All-MVC Second Team selections in Jake Laird, Dylan De Jong, and Ben Stroud. In goal for MSU, Michael Creek has allowed 13 goals in 16 matches played for an .767 goals against average.
The winner of the match, a rematch of last year's MVC Title game that saw no. 2 Central Arkansas knock off no.1 Missouri State 1-0 in overtime, will advance to this season's MVC Title match against either no. 6 Drake or no. 2 Loyola. Kickoff for the match is scheduled for 1:00 PM.
