STATESBORO, GA. - The Central Arkansas men's soccer team travelled to Georgia Southern in its first Sun Belt conference match of the season. UCA picked up its first conference win of the season behind a 4-1 effort.
The Bears started the match in fine form, putting multiple shots on frame, threatening the Eagles goal. There was no breakthrough until the 26th minute when
Soren Jensen slid a ball across goal to
Kyosuke Kubota, which led to a slide pass back to Freshman
Rubyn Singh Gill. The Bears held their one goal advantage through halftime.
The Eagles came out firing in the second half and eventually caught the Bears on a counter attack leading to a goal, making it 1-1 in the 54th minute. The Bears gained control back with good possession which led to a foul by the Eagles in the 58th minute. Junior
Ole Kjoerholt eyed up a free kick before sending it over the wall and into the back of the net from 20 yards out. The Bears did not look back from there as they forced the Eagles on their heels before they opened up the defense again, this time it was a direct pass to
Kasper Andersen from
Pablo Azcona. Andersen laid the ball off to Jensen who hit a wonder of a strike right into the roof of the net, making it 3-1 in the 62nd minute.
Daishi Uekuri threaded a neat through ball into
Jose Carlos Gonzalez who tucked the ball into the left corner in the 79th minute and extended the UCA lead to 4-1.
"Tonight was a great start to conference play, but we have a long way to go and we were far from perfect. The good news is that we have improved with each match, but we are still making mistakes that will cost us in upcoming matches," said Head Coach
Ross Duncan. "I was really disappointed to concede the goal when we did, that could have been a real turning point in the match. On the flip side, I was pleased with how we responded to that failure."
The Bears stay in Georgia for two matches against Coastal Carolina, which will be played in Atlanta on Oct. 16 and Oct. 18. Those matches are set for a 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. kickoff, respectively.
