Conway – After turning in a Division I-best performance that saw them win the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship and make their first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament appearance in 2017, the Central Arkansas Bears kick off their bid to repeat those feats on Friday night at the Stephens Complex.

The Bears, who scored 34 goals last season, including an MVC-best 16 in league play, return the biggest offensive weapon in the nation in junior Niklas Brodacki. Brodacki, from Norrkoping, Sweden, led the NCAA with 17 goals last season, ranking second nationally with 39 points, and tying for fourth with five assists. The Bears will look for a second attacking option, with head coach Ross Duncan particularly excited about sophomore Kasper Andersen.

"The guy that I was most excited about in the spring was Kasper, we moved into a different system where it gave him more reps at his natural position and he's thrived in it," said Duncan. "He came into the preseason firing, so he's able to take pressure off of Brodacki while giving himself opportunities to score."

Central Arkansas features a similar setup in the midfield, with senior Chris Holmes returning after a 2017 All-MVC Second Team campaign that saw him tie for fifth in the MVC with five assists and add a pair of goals scored. Additionally, UCA returns senior Daltyn Knutson, who earned All-MVC Honorable Mention while splitting time between the midfield and the back line. The Bears must replace graduated senior Pepe San Roman, who totaled 47 starts in the midfield during his career and finished second on the team with 12 points (4 goals, 4 assists) last season.

"You look at our roster, we're only returning 13 of the 29 players that were on the Conference Championship team last fall," said Duncan. "But of those 13, there are some really important parts of our success last year. We've got a really strong spine, from Marc in goal all the way up the field. Chris and Daltyn are the heart of our program, not just on the competitive side, but of the entire team. We can't play the way we want to play without them on the field. Daltyn is a beast in the air, he's great with his feet and good on set pieces, and he's tireless; and a guy like Chris is about as perfect a two-way player as you can ask for, almost to a fault. He's trying to be so perfect on both sides of the ball, that he works himself to death."

On the defensive front, the Bears will turn to sophomore Jake Bates, who started 18 games as a freshman, along with senior Niklas Sandquist (25 career starts) and sophomore Nate Lancaster (12 starts last season) to settle things.

"Those three guys have played a ton of minutes for us in the past," said Duncan. "It's kind of unusual for a freshman to have a season like Jake had, especially at the center back position, but he doesn't seem to feel any pressure or nerves that young guys get in the back, so it's perfect to have him back in there. And he's able to bring help bring some other new guys in, because we graduated some good defenders in Blake Stricker and Tyler Ridener, so we wanted to make sure that we brought in some guys that were ready to go. And we've brought in some guys that we feel like are ready and will be able to help us keep clean sheets."

That emphasis on defense has been key for the Bears throughout the spring and the preseason, as Central Arkansas allowed 14 goals in eight MVC contests last season, tied for most in the league.

"That's been the number one focus in the preseason, so we brought in new guys that we think can help us with that goal and that has been the main focus in training."

In goal, Central Arkansas will again turn to junior Marc Olsen, who has started 36 of Central Arkansas' 38 matches over the past two seasons, making 155 saves (.771 save %), with a goals against average of 1.23 while tallying 10 shutouts.

"Marc had a frustrating summer because he was working through an injury, it was tough for him to be on the sidelines and working through that, but he's about as mentally strong as you can find, so it's not something we've carried into the preseason," said Duncan. "We added Trevor Jackson to our group, to go with Sebastian Thomsson and Rasmus Jonsson, so we've got four legit D-I goal keepers, and we added an incredible goalkeeping trainer in Yuta Nomura, so we couldn't be happier with where we are from a goalkeeping standpoint."

While the Bears return a strong core from last season's MVC Tournament Championship squad that includes seven starters and 11 players that saw at least 500 minutes of action, fans will have plenty of new faces to learn, as Duncan's roster features 15 newcomers.

"I think the guys that came in for the spring semester are the guys that have the edge right now," said Duncan. "Soren Jensen, a transfer from the University of Cincinnati, is a guy that we recruited on the front end and he came in and  fit right into our system during the spring. He's carried an injury throughout the summer, but is fit now and I think he's going to have an impact for us. Katsuyoshi Kimishima is a very unique player. He's very undersized, but you aren't going to find someone with better feet and he's got a really good eye for the goal, and I expect him to be in our attacking rotation with Kasper and Brodacki. And then you've got Francesco Caorsi; he's one of the fittest guys on the team, comes from a really strong playing background, and was able to really insert himself. It's such a benefit to have that spring season to learn the culture and really get yourself ingrained in the culture her at UCA."

While Friday night is the first official game of the season, it will be the fourth time that the Bears have taken to the field in August following a trio of exhibition matches. Central Arkansas opened the preseason with a 0-0 draw against Belmont, before welcoming #8 SMU to the Stephens Complex for a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament opener. The Bears got an early goal from Knutson and added one from Anderson to tie the Mustangs 2-2, before closing out the preseason with a hard-fought 1-0 loss at Tulsa.

"We set up the preseason to mirror what we're going to see throughout the year," said Duncan. "We didn't want to ease into it and then get caught off guard by Georgia State. We wanted to schedule teams that we felt like were at a similar level to where Georgia State is. Each team we played in the preseason presented a different challenge and we were focused mainly on us. It's hard to get a scout in the preseason, but we felt like we managed those matches and learned a lot about ourselves."

While Duncan and the Bears open the season on Friday night, they have one thing on their minds as they enter the 2018 season, a second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

"We know the old adage about how it's harder to win the second title than it is to win the first," said Duncan. "We really hit the reset button in November and set some new targets for ourselves because of that. You can never protect against some things going wrong, but we wanted to make sure that we did everything in our power to not let ourselves down in a second run at it. It's a special thing to win it once, but I think getting it a second time would really put our stamp on this conference. We made the non-conference schedule tougher than it's ever been; we've got some marquee names on it with Marquette and Saint Louis, but Georgia State is very senior-heavy and wouldn't be surprised if they have a very successful year in the Sun Belt. We wanted to push ourselves so that when we get into that conference slate that we're as strong as we can be."

Central Arkansas will open the year at 7:30 PM against the Panthers, before travelling to Marquette at 7:05 PM on Thursday, August 30^th. The Bears will then return to the Stephens to take on cross-town opponent Central Baptist College at 7:30 PM on Monday, September 3^rd.