Bears Clinch No. 2 Seed in ASUN Tournament With Win

FLORENCE, Ala. – Central Arkansas women’s soccer team clinched the No. 2 seed in the upcoming ASUN Championship tournament with a 2-1 win against North Alabama on Saturday.

The win brought the Bears’ conference record to 8-1-2 with the only loss coming against Florida Gulf Coast, who will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament that starts Thursday. FGCU and UCA have two byes and won’t play until November 7. The Bears will face either Lipscomb, Austin Peay or Bellarmine in the semifinal round.

The 2024 #ASUNWSOC Championship field is set 🏆

🔗 https://t.co/CEBysQUOzy pic.twitter.com/VvZnJrXxjc

— Atlantic Sun Conference (@ASUNSports) October 27, 2024

With almost two weeks until they play again, it was good for the Bears to win their regular season finale.

UCA’s defense withstood an early offensive barrage from North Alabama before taking their turn to attack and never let up.

Kelly Van Gundy scored the game’s first goal from a free kick 35 yards away from goal. It was her ninth goal this season and 19^th in her collegiate career. The goal gave UCA a 1-0 halftime lead, but North Alabama equalized the game in the 73^rd minute on a Haley Patterson goal.

Stop us if you've heard this before. Kelly sends it in from WAY out. https://t.co/HvHaMPXRLP pic.twitter.com/k71vtwL2yH

— UCA Women's Soccer (@UCAWomensSoccer) October 26, 2024

But the Bears weren’t fazed and Jama Akpanudo scored her first goal of the season in the 79^th minute with an assist from Anna Kerr. Kerr added on four shots to her an assist and Brianna Lopez had the most shots against North Alabama with six, including four on goal

UCA ended the game with more than twice as many shots as North Alabama, including 12 shots on goal and only three for North Alabama.