PORTLAND, Ore. – In its debut match of the 2022 season, the Central Arkansas men’s soccer team drew against a Portland team that had beaten a pair of top-five teams in the preseason. Leaping out to a 2-0 lead, the Bears just couldn’t quite hold on, allowing a late surge from the Pilots to draw in the team’s season opener.
Chris Naicker and Sebastian Andreassen each tallied a goal for Central Arkansas, with Naicker representing the lone score of the first half.
The Pilots flew out of the gates, itching for their season to get underway, as they pressured the Central Arkansas defense immediately off the first touch. Within a couple of minutes, Portland had fired off a couple of shots, testing Zach Schawl and the defense quickly. Fortunately for the Purple and Gray, the ASUN’s leader in goals allowed average last year simply parried the shots to keep the game scoreless in the early minutes.
From there, the momentum shifted to the Bears, as they countered and maintained possession for the next chunk of time. Karim Diao found a couple of good looks, firing a pair of shots that forced saves from the Portland keeper.
Diao let loose on another shot in the 16th minute, getting blocked before it made it to the keeper, but the ball carried across the six-yard box to the feet of Naicker, who collected possession and finished for the first goal of the match.
The teams battled back and forth as the match’s physicality ramped up, both sides attempting to exert their will on the other. Portland nearly evened the match in the 32ndn.d minute, firing a pair of shots at the target, but Schawl kept the pilots from doing so.
Back and forth went possession in the early going of the second half, with neither team able to establish much momentum.
All of that changed when Central Arkansas was awarded a penalty kick in the 59thth minute, drawing the foul against the Portland keeper inside the 18-yard box. Playing in his first match in Purple and Gray, Adreassen got the keeper to react to a stutter step, allowing the 6’5″ Norwegian to pick his spot to make the game 2-0.
With a heightened desperation, the Pilots launched the counterattack, ramping up the pressure and fighting to keep the ball in their offensive third. Earning a free kick outside the left side of the box, Portland bent in the freebie to narrow the lead to one goal.
It didn’t take long for Portland to follow the first goal with the equalizer. Continuing to level pressure against the Bears, the Pilots took advantage of another set piece, this time a corner kick, using the additional numbers to put home a second goal in seven minutes.
From there, the teams searched for an opportunity to take the lead, each one probing the other’s defense for a critical mistake in the last 15 minutes. Yet, neither team was able to find a quality look in the closing minutes, with the final shot sailing over the end line in the final seconds of the match.
The draw marked the first such result for the Bears since February of 2021, a streak of 547 days without a stalemate at the end of a match. A chippy and physical outing from the first whistle, the teams combined for 53 fouls and 12 yellow cards, highlighting the intensity of the first match of the season for each side.
Central Arkansas remains in the Pacific Northwest for its next match, as the Bears take on the No. 2 ranked Huskies of Washington on Monday. Kickoff in Seattle is set for 9:30 pm