Conway, AR – The Central Arkansas Bears got back on their home turf on Labor Day after a tough 4-0 loss against #22 Marquette Golden Eagles and delivered a shutout of their own as they defeated the Central Baptist Mustangs 3-0 at the Bill Stephens Complex. Sophomore Jake Bates netted his first two goals of the season and junior Niklas Brodacki picked up his first of the year.
 
The UCA offense was in all-out blitz mode all night as they fired 37 shots (third in program history) toward Mustangs goalkeeper Andrew Montoya and landed 21 on goal. The Bears' defense did not allow a single Mustang shot on the evening. Central Arkansas head coach Ross Duncan left the game pleased with his team's play on both sides of the ball.
           
"We always want to do a good job defensively first so we can set ourselves up to attack. We generated a lot more attack than we have in previous games," Duncan said. "We made big progress with a lot of things we were working toward in training so I'm pleased all around."
 
The Bears' offense did not take long to get going as sophomore forward Kasper Andersen placed a shot on goal two minutes into the match. The Bears had seven shots on goal before breaking the tie in the 20^th minute when Brodacki netted his first goal of the season off a Mustang defender deflection that landed in the bottom left corner past the goalie.
 
Montoya was pressured the entire first half as he faced 19 shots and 10 on goal. He nearly escaped the first half, allowing just one goal before Bates played a pass that was delivered from across the goal and sank it in the back post to further the lead to 2-0 going into halftime.
           
The tale of the second half was much of the same as the first as the Bears landed 18 shots and 11 on goal. After four shots toward Montoya, the Bears struck for the third time in the 67^th minute, as Bates delivered again off a shot toward the back post to cushion the lead to 3-0. The Bears tried to further their lead as they converted nine more shots before the final whistle, two of which went off the crossbar.
 
Alberto Suarez picked up a pair of assists on the night, his first in a Central Arkansas uniform, while Christian Ilia, Soren Jensen, and Niklas Sandquist each added an assist as well.
 
The win improved the Bears record to 2-1 and dropped the Mustangs to 0-1-1. Central Arkansas will hit the road this weekend as they will travel to San Antonio and Houston for two matches against the University of the Incarnate Word and Houston Baptist University on September 7^th and 9^th.