After outscoring its opponents 10-1 in a pair of wins over the weekend, the Central Arkansas women’s soccer team took home two of the Southland Conference’s weekly awards on Tuesday as junior forward Adriana Lucar was named Offensive Player of the Week and junior defender Emma Reed was named Defensive Player of the Week.
Lucar scored four goals in the two games, including a hat trick in Friday’s 7-1 victory over Mississippi Valley State, to raise her season total to eight – already the highest total for a UCA player in the school’s Division I era.
Reed, who played all 180 minutes over the weekend, was an integral part of a Bears defense that surrendered just one goal in the two games and picked up its third shutout of the year. She also added to the Bears’ offensive output, scoring a goal in Sunday’s win at Alabama A&M.
Kelsey Gochnauer also received honorable mention for goalkeeper of the week.
The University of Central Arkansas men’s soccer team again benefitted from their second own goal of the season Monday on the way to a 3-0 victory over Oral Roberts to close the Central Arkansas Invitational Tournament at Farris Field.
A clearning attempt by ORU’s Juan Diego Padilla failed to the cross bar, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute. The Bears (3-1) scored two goals of their own against the Golden Eagles (0-3). Alex Ghiffari and Manuel Montal also scored for the Bears, who were shut out 1-0 by Lipscomb of the first day of the tournament.
“It was night and day from Saturday’s game,” Central Arkansas coach Ross Duncan said. “We drew a line in the sand and asked our guys to step forward, which they did.”
In goal for the Bears, Cody Gibson picked up the shutout in his first start in a Central Arkansas uniform.