Conway – The Central Arkansas Bears and Little Rock Trojans opened both the 2018 season and the 2018-19 Governor's I-40 Showdown at the Stephens Complex in Conway on Friday night, playing to a 1-1 tie after a 110 minutes.

After a relatively slow first 10 minutes that featured a single shot and a corner kick from Little Rock (0-0-1), Central Arkansas (0-0-1), would establish control over the next 20 minutes, with a pair of shots on goal from senior Camille Bassett and another from sophomore Hadley Dickinson. The Trojans would turn on the pressure for the remainder of the half however, taking the final three shots of the period and putting two of them on target.

Little Rock would carry that pressure over to the second half, needing just three minutes to notch the match's first goal, as Doro Greulich worked passed the Bear back line to force UCA keeper Lauren Mercuri out of the net and then slid a pass to Arola Aparicio, who put it away to put the Trojans up 1-0 in the 49^th minute.

Central Arkansas would even things up eight minutes later, as Bassett finished a run through the Trojan defense with a pass across the goal to junior Connie Awuku-Darkoh, who tapped it in for the finish.

"That was a really good goal," said UCA head coach Jeremy Bishop. " We had a lot of chances tonight and scored a couple of goals that got called back on offsides, but it was a fantastic game. Both teams played extremely hard; it's fun to get out on the first night of the season and see two teams that just get after it and go hard. I'm pleased with the effort."

The Bears appeared to take the lead in the 76^th minute, but a header from junior Bria Williams was called back for offsides. Central Arkansas would get looks from Bassett, junior Jordan Slim and freshman Gracie Hair, but would prove unable to find the game-winner in regulation.

It again looked like Central Arkansas had found a game-winner in the 97^th minute, when a long-range shot from Dickinson was pushed off the crossbar by Trojan keeper Sara Johannsdottir and fell to Awuku-Darkoh, who fired the rebound to the bottom-right corner and in, but again the linesman's flag went up to disallow the goal.

While Mercuri would be called on to make just one more save and Johannsdotter went untested over the finals 12 minutes, both sides generated dangerous chances, which looks from Williams and sophomore Dawson Depperschmidt and Little Rock's Greulich missing high by inches.

"We just kept at them tonight," said Bishop. "We kept coming and kept coming and kept putting them in dangerous spots and either the last touch went wide or the keeper pushed it, but if you aren't getting the chances it could be a long season, but we were getting them tonight."

On the night, Central Arkansas held a 19-16 shooting edge and a 6-4 advantage in shots on goal, led by Bassett and Dickinson, who each put a pair on target. In goal for the Bears, Mercuri allowed one goal and made three saves.

The tie sees the three points available in the first leg of the 2018-19 Governor's I-40 Showdown split evenly between the Bears and Trojans, with each team taking 1.5.

"It was a great crowd, it was big, it was loud, they got into the game and that makes it so much fun for the players and really the fans themselves," said Bishop of the 452 in attendance on the night. "And to get the Governor's I-40 Showdown started with such a good game and showcase the competition that they were talking about the other day between these schools; it's a great start to the season and a great start to the Showdown."

Central Arkansas returns to action on Sunday evening, heading to Memphis, Tennessee to take on the Memphis Tigers at 7:00 PM.

"They're going to be a tough contest for us," said Bishop of the Tigers. "They're typically a national tournament team, and it's going to be a great test for us to go out and play at a great facility against a tough team and put out another good effort and put ourselves in a good position."