JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A dominant performance from the Central Arkansas men's soccer team earns the Bears a spot in the ASUN Championship later this month. Pietro Fontana netted a hat trick in a 6-2 win over North Florida Saturday night, lifting the Bears into postseason on the final day of the regular season.
 
Fontana became the fourth player in program history to log multiple hat tricks, scoring one in the first half and two in the second half to help the Bears pull away. With the win, Central Arkansas improved to 6-7-2 on the year, and wrapped up ASUN play 3-3-1.
 
But it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows early; the Ospreys tallied the first goal of the match just six minutes in. Central Arkansas would answer quickly, though, as Fontana played a great ball up to Devonte Richards, who hit the ball in motion and one-touched it into the left side of the goal to equalize just a few minutes later.
 
Ten minutes later, the Bears drew a foul in a dangerous spot, just about 30 yards from the goal. Fontana lined up with Pharis Petrica on the ball. The freshman ran past, pulling a defender off the line, and Fontana was able to lace the ball past the keeper to put the Bears on top.
 
The rest of the first half was relatively uneventful, especially compared to the first 20 minutes of the match. Neither side presented much offensively, and the teams went into halftime with the Bears up 2-1.
 
UNF came out of the break looking to tie the game back up, testing Javier Ramirez early in the second half. But the Bears were able to stop the Osprey offense and counter, eventually ending in a 61^st minute score by Andres Robles. The sophomore had the ball in the 18-yard box, danced around a defender, and punched it through into the bottom right corner to make it 3-1.
 
Much like the first goal of the game, the first goal of the second half was answered almost immediately. A Bear foul in the defensive third gave UNF a free kick in a troublesome area, and the home team was able to capitalize and find a score to cut the lead to one. But Fontana wouldn't let that answer stand for long. Tajio James drove deep into the box and laid it off for Fontana, whose dangerous right foot finished cleanly to push the lead back to two.
 
Fontana would repeat the play a couple of minutes later with Aby Gomez, who left the ball for the Italian forward's third goal of the match. James, who already had an assist in the match, decided he needed to get in the scoring column as well. Late in the match, he muscled his way through two defenders, shaking both off to find himself with the ball at the top of the box and little resistance. Lining it up, he wedged one into the right side of the net to boost the lead to four with under ten minutes to go.
 
The six goals marked the most in a single game this season, and are the most goals in a game since last season, when the Bears hung six on Queens, Fontana's last hat trick.
 
With the win, the Bears locked up a berth in the ASUN Championship later this month. The Bears earned the No. 4 seed, and will head to DeLand, Florida to play Queens in a first-round game at Stetson's home field.