CONWAY, Ark. - Central Arkansas men's soccer (2-1-1) comes up with two second half goals to complete the comeback and get the victory against Oral Roberts.
Both offenses struggled to get something going early on in this one, with both teams battling for possession around the middle third of the field with both defenses consistently clearing the ball back into its own zone. Oral Roberts struck first in the 28th minute after redshirt freshman Chance Anderson headed a corner kick from Roman Hemphill. After the goal, Central Arkansas looked to answer quickly with one of their own. Just 34 seconds after the Golden Eagles' goal, Garner Wolfe got off a shot of his own that was scooped up by the goalkeeper. Vaclav Kozeny shortly followed with another shot right of the crossbar as the Bears continued to stay on the attack.
As the first half drew to a close the Bears looked a lot more comfortable on offense. Early on, Central Arkansas relied heavily on long balls out of its defensive third to try to spark the attack, but struggled to generate consistent possession in the final third. Following the Golden Eagles' goal, the Bears began to settle into their offensive rhythm, doing a better job of building up play and keeping possession on the Oral Roberts side of the field.
When both teams came out for the second half, Central Arkansas came out hot and continued to apply the pressure on Oral Roberts as the Bears looked to even the score. Central Arkansas dominated possession for the majority of the second half and found the back of the net on a penalty kick from Rico Duggan in the 63rd minute. Central Arkansas continued to apply pressure offensively, eventually taking the lead in the 69th minute when freshman Topias Helle scored his first goal of the season and his collegiate career, with the assist coming from Michael Walenchok.
The Central Arkansas defense continued its strong start of the season, allowing another one goal game. Goalkeeper Merrick Cook finished with three saves and has yet to allow more than one goal in a game this season. While the Bears' back third remained solid, the defensive effort in the midfield and attacking half helped limit pressure on Cook throughout the match. In the second half, Joseph Mwamba and Kaisei Matsudo both made key defensive plays in transition as Oral Roberts looked to even the score. Mwamba stepped in to block an Oral Roberts shot and slow the Golden Eagles' attack, while Matsudo came up with a clean slide tackle to halt another scoring opportunity. In the final three minutes, Oral Roberts kept possession in the Central Arkansas third for the majority of the time but was unable to create a quality scoring opportunity. As the final seconds ticked away, the Bears cleared the ball one final time to secure the 2-1 victory and remain undefeated at home.
Central Arkansas is back at home Monday as they face Central Baptist College. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m., with the match streaming live on ESPN+ and live stats available online.
