Conway – The Central Arkansas Bears began conference play beautifully as they defeated the Sam Houston State Bearkats 5-0 at the Stephens Complex on Friday night. The Bears had control most of the match as they went into the first half up 1-0 and poured on four goals in the second half to run away with it.
 
Junior Connie Awuku-Darkoh had two of the Bears' five goals and now has 17 points through her first nine games in a Central Arkansas uniform. She has a team-high seven goals and entered the night second in the Southland Conference in points. Sophomore Anika Sultan recorded her first two goals of the season and senior Camille Bassett converted a penalty kick to collect her fourth of the year. There were three UCA assists on the night as senior Kristen Ricks collected two and junior Jordan Slim had one.
 
Central Arkansas head coach Jeremy Bishop was very pleased with his team's performance in their fourth straight win.
 
"It feels good to get out and show what we can do," Bishop said. "I think we have created a lot of opportunities this season and not had a lot to show for it in some games. It was a similar story in the first half as we got good chances but only got one goal, but then to come out in the second half and be able to pour it on was really good to see."
 
The Bears launched 11 shots toward Bearkats senior goalie Christina Hendershot in the first half and after two near scores by sophomore Hadley Dickinson, Awuku-Darkoh got the Bears on the board in the 19^th minute after Ricks fed her the ball from the right and she sunk it in the right corner of the goal. The Bears got one last look at the goal in the 45^th minute but could not convert as freshman Morgan Hurd's shot was saved by Hendershot and the score remained 1-0 at half.
 
The Central Arkansas offense wasted no time in the second half as Sultan played a pass at the top of the box from Slim and sunk it over the keeper in the left side of the goal in the 46^th minute. Just two quick minutes after, the Bears struck again as Awuku-Darkoh finished a Ricks pass to near post from three yards out to advance their lead to 3-0. In the 51^st minute, a regular Sultan corner turned into her second goal of the night as her kick came from the left side and fell into the right corner of the goal. The Bears' offense did not let up as they sent 11 more shots toward goal and continued to pressure the Bearkats defense. A UCA goal off a penalty kick by Bassett in the 69^th minute gave the Bears the 5-0 lead.
 
The Bears improved to 7-2-1 and 1-0-0 in conference play and the Bearkats dropped to 1-6-1 and 0-1-0. Central Arkansas will hit the road for two conference matchups against the Lamar Cardinals and the McNeese Cowgirls starting on September 21. Coach Bishop hopes his team's hard work and high spirit will continue to carry over on the road.
 
"We've got to limit those two team's scoring chances because they have a lot of firepower," Bishop said. "Beyond that, it's about this team's spirit that they have right now. It's really come a long way in the last week or two with them really believing in themselves and having confidence in each other."