CONWAY, Ark. – On the road for a third-straight game to start the season, the Central Arkansas men’s soccer team heads to the Lone Star state to face SMU on Friday. The final game of the road stretch before debuting at home, first touch against the Mustangs is set for 7 pm at Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
Despite the 0-1-1 record, the Bears almost pulled off one of the biggest upsets in program history in their last game, playing No. 3 Washington to a tightly contested 2-1 finish in Seattle on Monday. Holding last season’s NCAA Tournament runner-up scoreless for 65 minutes, Central Arkansas had the Huskies reeling in the first half with its aggressive pressure from end line to end line.
Once goals were scored, however, they came in rapid succession. The Huskies scored a pair in less than 90 seconds, but the Bears answered the second goal just 62 seconds after that.
Ruby Singh Gill notched the lone goal of the night for Central Arkansas, making him the third Bear to score on the year Sebastian Andreassen and Chris Naicker both scored against Portland in the season opener.
SMU enters the weekend with a 1-1 record, having opened the season with a 4-0 win over Oral Roberts before falling to Stanford on Sunday. Stanford got up early on the Mustangs, and it proved to be too much to overcome.
The leading scorer for SMU this season is Jose Ortiz, who has three goals on the season. All three came against Oral Roberts, marking his first-career hat trick. Graduate student Knut Ahlander scored in the goal at Stanford, the ninth goal of his storied career in Dallas.
Head coach of the Mustangs is Kevin Hudson. Now in his seventh season, Hudson has an all-time record of 79-32-14. Friday’s match is the first time the teams will face off since 2019.
Kickoff against the Mustangs is set for 7 pm on Friday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+, with live stats available here.