CONWAY, Ark. – With Senior Day in the rear-view mirror, the Central Arkansas women's soccer team looks ahead to finishing its last two matches of the season strong. The Bears travel to Louisville, Ky., to face Bellarmine on Sunday. Match time against the Knights is set for 12 p.m.
Using two early goals, the Bears picked up a win on Senior Day, taking down Eastern Kentucky with a 2-1 finish on Thursday. Goals from Laurel Landry and Emma Hawkins in the first 12 minutes gave UCA all the distance needed to hang on for the team's eighth win of the season.
The win puts the Bears over the .500 mark for the first time this season, and the conference wins have been piling up recently. Now 5-2 in the ASUN, Central Arkansas finds itself in a three-way tie for first place in the overall conference standings. More importantly, being 3-0 in the ASUN West clinches the Bears a place in the ASUN Championship, the first team in 2021 to clinch a spot.
After scoring three points on Thursday, Hawkins finds herself moving up all kinds of lists in UCA history. In terms of single-season records at UCA, she is top-10 in goals (12, T-eighth), assists (7, T-sixth), total points (31, T-third) and game winners (3, T-eighth). On the career list, Hawkins lands in similar places, sitting tied for third in career goals (31), tied for seventh in assists (14), tied for third in points (76) and second in game-winning goals (10).
Sunday's opponent is the Bellarmine Knights, currently with a 3-5-7 record, with a 1-4-2 ASUN record. Bellarmine started its season with five-consecutive draws, playing 110 minutes per match for the first month of the season. Eight of its 15 matches this season have involved overtime, all of them even going into double overtime.
Last time out for the Knights was one of those occasions, earning a draw against North Alabama on Thursday. After scoring twice to open the second half, North Alabama responded with a goal in the 70th minute, followed by the equalizer in the 82nd minute.
Bellarmine's leading scorer this season is Sarah Buse, who has netted three goals and four assists. Regan Kommor, right behind Buse with nine points, is tied with Buse with three goals and has a trio of assists to her name.
The 2021 season marks Bellarmine's second season as a Division I institution. Prior to joining the Division I ranks, the Knights posted 11 wins in five of their last six seasons as a Division II school.
Kickoff against the Knights is scheduled for 12 p.m. at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium. The match will air on ESPN+, and live stats can be found here.
