TULSA, Okla. – Battling a nationally ranked opponent late in the season, the Central Arkansas men's soccer team took a 4-1 loss against No. 25 Oral Roberts Tuesday night. What could have been a final tune-up before the regular season finale ended up not going the Bears' way.
 
The loss drops the Bears to 2-8-4 on the year, but comes in a game that doesn't impact the chase for postseason. Ignacio Bellina scored his third goal of the season late in the match, but otherwise Central Arkansas struggled to develop much offense against the nationally ranked Golden Eagles.
 
Central Arkansas kept the first half close, putting up a strong fight against ORU. Pietro Fontana was responsible for the first shot on target of the match, forcing a save from the Golden Eagle keeper in the ninth minute. But quickly, the game seemed to shift for the home team; for every one shot the Bears took, the Golden Eagles would take two, coming closer and closer to finding that first goal of the match.
 
That finally happened in the 30^th minute, with a shot getting blocked right back to the shooter, who finished the second one to open the scoring. The Bears took two more shots before the close of the first half, including one on target by Christian Chavez, but went into half time trailing by one.
 
Again in the second half, Central Arkansas battled with Oral Roberts pretty well for the first chunk of time, trying to equalize and get a foothold on the game. But the Golden Eagle offense proved to be too much, as the home team broke through again in the 62^nd minute. From there, two more scores over the next stretch of game time put the match essentially out of reach. But the Bears didn't quit, fighting through the final whistle and coming up with a score off the boot of Bellina in the 78^th minute. It marked the third goal of the season for the Peruvian, who sits as the second-highest scorer for the Bears this season.
 
Central Arkansas is back on the pitch one more time during the regular season, facing North Florida at home on Saturday. Kicking off at noon, the Bears celebrate senior day against the Ospreys, honoring the contributions of their five graduating players.