Bears fall late in ASUN final to North Florida, ending season

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After 110 minutes of back-and-forth action competing for an ASUN Championship, Central Arkansas fell in the penalty portion of the match, ultimately ending its season.

The Bears rounded out an 8-7-3 record on the year, reaching a third ASUN Championship Final in four seasons. Devonte Richards notched a hat trick in the match, scoring all three goals in regulation for UCA. It marked the second hat trick of the seasons for the Bears, with Richards’ and Pietro Fontana’s both coming against North Florida.

North Florida tallied the first goal of the match in the tenth minute, establishing an early lead. But Richards wouldn’t let that go unanswered, scoring his first goal of the match just a few minutes later in the 14th. The senior would give the Bears the lead in the 22nd, beating the keeper in a one-on-one situation and finding the open net score.

Both sides made some substitutions after the initial scoring spurt, putting in fresh legs to try and continue momentum. The moves eventually resulted in another UNF goal in the 39th. The Ospreys had two more shots on goal before the end of the first half, but Javier Ramirez was able to keep them out.

Even at 2-2, both teams went to work in the second half, with both sides getting shots on goal in the first 20 minutes of the half. It was the Ospreys, though, that would strike first in the final half of regulation, putting one in in the 67th to take control of the match. But just like in the first half, no goal would go unanswered, as Richards completed the hat trick just six minutes later to even the score again.

Tajio James put a shot on goal with less than five minutes to go, but the UNF keeper was on top of it, sending the teams to overtime. UNF controlled things in the first ten minutes of overtime, recording two shots on goal that threatened to end the match then and there. But Ramirez continued to play well, stopping both attempts and sending the teams to the second overtime period.

It was UCA’s turn to control an overtime period for the final ten minutes of action, as James hit the post and forced a team save late in overtime. With no scores in the overtime periods, it was on to PKs. Despite putting up a good fight, the Bears missed one too many, ending their season when UNF sunk their final attempt.