CONWAY, Ark. - The Central Arkansas Bears beat Sam Houston State in a 4-2 shootout on Friday, March 12. The Bears were led by Emma Hawkins with a hat-trick. The Bears added a goal from Laurel Landry. The Bear's win takes them to 3-3 in SLC play and 12-5-1 overall.

FIRST HALF - RESPONSIVE AND A LATE PUSH

The Bears started the first half very strongly when Morgan Rollow played a low cross into the feet of Sydney Brough, but she was unable to finish in the first minute. Sam Houston opened the scoring however in the 14th minute, but the Bears made a quick turnaround and tied the game up in the 23rd minute. Zoe Van de Cloot played a high ball from a corner kick which met the head of Taylor Webb who put the ball right into Emma Hawkins' feet. Hawkins tucked the ball into the far corner to level the score.

The Bears put multiple shots on goal testing the Bearkat goalkeeper, but it was not until the 44th minute when Emma Hawkins added her second goal of the night. Hawkins got stuck into a tackle against the Sam Houston center-back and finished her shot off her first touch into the far corner to extend the Bears lead to 2-1.

SECOND HALF - FINISHING STRONG AND COOL HEADS

The second half started fairly slowly but was opened up by the Bears in the 65th minute. A deflected ball found the feet of Emma Hawkins as she dribbled through two defenders and round the goalkeeper to slide the ball in the back of the net to score her third goal. 

Just four minutes later, Laurel Landry retrieved the ball after it deflected off Taylor Lassiter. Landry hit the ball from nearly 30 yards out, the ball sailed past the goalkeeper and into the bottom corner to extend the Bears lead to 4-1. The Bearkats cut into the Bear's lead in the 73rd minute after a failed clearance off a corner kick. Taylor Lassiter nearly made it five goals when she hit a high shot from far out in the 84th minute. Lassiter was denied by the fingertips of the goalkeeper's outstretched hand to push it away.

HEAR FROM THE COACH

"It's great that we were able to get back in the win column after a tough weekend last week. We were able to get back to close to full strength. We weren't quite there yet in strength but we got the result," said Head Coach Jeremy Bishop.

HEAR FROM THE PLAYERS

"It helped for us to come back healthy and have that energy to win today. We've been practicing on scoring goals in practice and it showed today," said midfielder Laurel Landry.

"It felt good to finally put some goals in the back of the net and put some shots on target. If we come out with the same intensity as we did tonight, we will definitely look to make a statement in the conference," said the hat-trick hero, Emma Hawkins.

The Bears travel to McNeese next Friday night, March 19. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Lake Charles, Louisiana.