16 Aug 2017 UCA soccer team hopes for repeat

After an undefeated 10-0-1 record in Southland Conference play in 2016, the Central Arkansas women’s soccer team looks to earn a second-consecutive league title in 2017.

The Bears, who went 15-4-1 overall last season, were tabbed as the preseason favorite by the Southland’s coaches and sports information directors. UCA returns eight starters from last year’s team, highlighted by a league-high six preseason All-Southland Conference selections.

The Central Arkansas attack, which returns 92 percent of its goals scored and 71 percent of its assists from a season ago, features four of those All-Conference selections in forwards Camille Bassett and Ashley Smith and outside midfielders Dayna Mounie and Alex Moore. Bassett, the reigning Player and Forward of the Year in the Southland Conference, led the league in seven offensive categories last year, while Smith, Mounie and Moore ranked in the Top 10 in the league in seven, three and three categories, respectively.

“I think that we have a lot of different ways that we can score, which makes us very dangerous in the attack,” said UCA head coach Jeremy Bishop. “Dayna and Alex play that outside mid role, and they really become other forwards when we get into the attack. All four of them are dangerous in their own ways, three of them off the dribble and then Ashley with her ability to create things with her passing and understanding of the game.

“We’re excited about them all and we think they can continue to be among the leaders in the conference in scoring. That’s kind of the trick year in and year out, getting the ball to go into the net, but we’re going to create opportunities, so we’ll just have to find ways to finish them off.”

The Bears also feature a pair of preseason All-SLC picks on the back line in junior Kristen Ricks and senior Stacia Carroll, who helped lead UCA to the 11 shutouts and the third-best goal differential in Southland Conference history (plus-33). The UCA backline also returns seniors MaKayla Wilson (14 starts, 916 minutes played) and Karly Kleiver (seven starts, 1,155 minutes) and junior Kelsey Quick (six starts, 932 minutes) who both saw significant time for a Bears’ defense that led the league by allowing just 0.64 goals per game in conference play.

“Stacia is a rock in the center, she’s been a 90-minute player for the last three years so she’s got all the experience and she’s got a warrior mentality to lead this group,” said Bishop. “And what Kristen is able to with her speed on the outside, tracking things down and even getting our attack started sometimes is phenomenal. Kelsey ended up playing a lot of center back last year so she’s got a lot of experience now. She’s kinda cut from the same cloth as Stacia, in that she’s very strong physically and mentally and will beat most people to the ball. The right side is the spot that up for grabs right now. MaKayla is back and she played a lot back there, and Karly played a lot there last year too, and we’ve got some freshmen that could play in there as well. Even that other center spot, Kelsey has come in and looked strong, but we’ve got some freshmen that could challenge there.”

In goal, the Bears return both parts of a platoon that features two of the best keepers in the Southland Conference. Senior Anna Hughes (900 minutes in goal) led the Southland in goals against average (0.60) and ranked fourth in save percentage (.829), while junior Lauren Mercuri (922 minutes in goal) sat second in GAA (0.88) and third in save percentage (.830). The pair combined for 74 saves and 11 shutouts.

“Both are back and looking strong,” said Bishop of his keepers. “We’ll see how it goes, if we continue to split time or if one of them is able win the position outright.”

If the Bears have a hole, it will be in the center midfield positions. Graduated seniors Shelby Wilson and Allie Coleman spent the last four years as starters. But Bishop feels his team is up to the task of replacing the players who set second and third on the program’s Top 10 for career minutes played.

“I think that is the question coming into the season,” said Bishop. “We graduated two great players there. But the good news is I think we have five that could play there, it’s just a matter of if they’ll be able to be at the level we need. We’ve got three returners in Autum Schwartz, Anslea Haikey and Jessica Pantuso that have all gotten some minutes in there over the past year or two, and then we have two freshmen in Anika Sultan and Hadley Dickinson that are going to be fighting for those spots. I think early on we’ll see a lot of rotation in there, until we can figure out what’s the best solution for those spots. It’s not that we’re scared that any of them won’t be able to do what we need in those positions, it’s just going to be us figuring out what’s the best way for us to go.”

“We will play just about everybody in that game,” said Bishop. “We’ll play a lot of numbers, and give everybody and opportunity in a game situation. But also we’ll do a lot of combinations, at the center midfield, or the outside or the center backs, just to give them the opportunity to play with somebody that maybe they aren’t used to, to see how they react in those situations and hopefully give some of our younger players a chance to see some game situations.”

Central Arkansas will open the regular season Friday, Aug. 18, heading to Little Rock for a match-up against in-state rival Arkansas-Little Rock at 7 p.m. That match promises to be an exciting one, with each of the teams’ last three meetings being decided by one goal.

“I think it’s a really cool opening game for both of us,” said Bishop. “Because we’re so close, we’re going to have a big crowd out, and it’s a very competitive game. They won in 2015, we won last fall, we played them in the spring and that was a one-goal game, so it’s always really competitive. It should be a lot of fun.”