Monroe, Louisiana – The Central Arkansas Bears got a pair of early goals, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first 30 minutes to pick up their first win of the season on Friday night, 2-0 over ULM.

Central Arkansas (1-1-1) got the pressure going early, with Jordan Slim and Bria Williams firing off solid looks, before Camille Bassett gathered a pass from Hadley Dickinson and hammered it home to give the Bears a 1-0 lead in the 10^th minute with her first strike of the season.

Bassett, Williams, and Gracie Hair would all fire wide in the next five minutes, before ULM (0-3-0) saw a pair of corners result in wide headers just before the 20-minute mark. Central Arkansas would strike again in the 29^th minute, when Kristen Ricks found Connie Awuku-Darkoh, who finished to put the Bears up 2-0 with her second goal of the year.
Awuku-Darkoh would see two other shots saved, and Slim would have an attempt saved as well as Central Arkansas headed into the break up 2-0.

Dickinson would get the first look of the second half, with an attempt stopped by ULM keeper Bre Truscott in the 53^rd minute and Lauren Hargus fired wide in the 71^st, before Central Arkansas keeper Lauren Mercuri made a save in the 74^th minute. Williams would fire high in the 79^th minute, and Anika Sultan added a look wide in the 85^th, and Mercuri added another save in the 90^th minute to preserve the shutout.

For the match, Central Arkansas outshot ULM 16-8 and held a 6-3 advantage in shots on goal, led by Slim and Awuku-Darkoh, who each put a pair of attempts on target. In goal, Mercuri made three saves.

"Road-win shutouts are great," said UCA head coach Jeremy Bishop. "We came out today with a better mentality, worked really hard, and took control of the match early. We need to be able to finish our scoring chances at a higher rate, but overall we had a solid effort on the day."

Central Arkansas returns to action on Sunday evening, travelling to Springfield, Missouri to take on Missouri State. Kickoff is set for 1:00 PM.