CONWAY, Ark. - Central Arkansas fell in a tightly contested match with ORU, which finished with the Golden Eagles taking a 1-0 victory. The match was the first of the spring season and saw new faces and a new formation for the Bears.

The Bears, led by Coach Ross Duncan, shifted into a 5-4-1 formation for the match, allowing both strength in midfield and on the wings, through the wingbacks.

FIRST HALF - YELLOW CARDS AND MISSED CHANCES

The match exploded to life early on when Alexsi Morel was shown a yellow card for the first tackle of the match in the third minute. Morel, who was making his seventh career start for the Bears, was the first of four who would go in the book in the first half. Just two minutes later, Goalkeeper, Zach Schawl was called into action, making a strong save to his left side.

In the 16th minute, Alberto Suarez put a strong header on frame causing a save by the ORU goalkeeper to keep the score level at 0-0. The Bears would then have successive corners in the 19th minute before the first Golden Eagle was shown a yellow card for persistent infringement. In the 21st minute, the Bears made their first change, putting in Jose Carlos Gonzalez for Alexsi Morel, who appeared to have picked up an injury a few minutes prior. Just six minutes later, Gonzalez went into the book for a tackle near midfield.

The Bears took control and made two more changes while being on the front foot, when Pablo Azcona came on in the 30th minute. Unfortunately, Azcona saw less than a minute of action before a crunching tackle sent him hard to the ground. Masood Porsa, a freshman, came on for the injured Azcona. The fourth and final card of the first half was shown to Vicent Abaso for a late tackle in the 37th minute.

SECOND HALF - FRUSTRATION AND HEARTBREAK

As the second half began, the Bears took more control on the match, creating three chances in the first seven minutes. The Bears kept the pressure and had their best chance of the match in the 71st minute when Mathias Bendiksen had his shot to the bottom right corner pushed around the post out for a corner. 

The Bears continued to put pressure on the ORU penalty area until the 79th minute when a loose ball and a clashing between Ole Kjoerholt and an ORU attacker led to Kjoerholt being shown a yellow card. The change of possession allowed the Golden Eagles to counter attack the Bears and win a corner in the 80th minute, which was tucked away after a missed clearance and a scramble by the Bears. 

Central Arkansas fought back and made more chances with limited time remaining, with Alberto Suarez missing a header just wide off an out-swinging corner taken by Edoardo Merci. 

HEAR FROM THE COACH
"We have to build off the foundation we built. I thought we defended really well, we limited them to moments of transition. The goal came off a corner that was after a giveaway from us. We just need to generate more opportunities on goal, we can't win games with two shots on goal. Our defensive pressure was effective, but we did nothing with it," said Coach Ross Duncan.