UCA soccer dips tournament toes

After matching the victory total of the previous two seasons combined, the University of Central Arkansas men’s soccer team will make its first NCAA Tournament appearance tonight against SMU.

Fourth-year Bears Coach Ross Duncan joined the UCA staff as an assistant in 2010, just as the program was finishing its transition to become the state’s only Division I men’s soccer team. The Bears had competed in Division II since the program’s birth in 1996, and Duncan said the jump was “why I moved here in the first place.”

He had been an assistant at Vermont for three years, helping the program reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2007, and he said he wanted to help build the UCA program the same way.

By the end of the 2013 season, UCA had yet to have a winning season and had only won a total of two matches in Missouri Valley Conference play.

“Those were some dark years,” Duncan said.

Duncan was hired as head coach for the 2014 season and met with UCA Athletic Director Brad Teague.

“We had a conversation about how he wanted to build this program,” Duncan said. “Wanted to do it the right way. Set a culture. Despite the difficult seasons, we stuck to our plan.”

UCA gained confidence in its first winning conference record in 2016, but the team started this season 0-7. Five of the losses were by one goal.

The Bears won 9 of their next 13 games, including a 1-0 victory over Missouri State to win the conference title and earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

“I would have thought you were crazy if you told me back in mid-September,” Duncan said.

The turning point, he said, was after UCA lost its first conference match in penalty kicks to Missouri State. The Bears won four consecutive, scoring three goals in each one, and by the end of the season, sophomore forward Niklas Brodacki led the nation with 17 goals and was named the conference player of the year.

“We’re writing history,” said Brodacki, who is originally from Sweden. “Everyone feels confident.”

Brodacki scored the game-winning goal in sudden death over Missouri State, tapping in the score from the right side of the net after receiving a cross from junior midfielder Chris Holmes.

UCA will play SMU (15-2-1) , which is ranked No. 10 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and won the American Athletic Conference title.

“The mistake is if you go in naïve and hope to just enjoy the game,” Duncan said. “We’re going for one reason, and that’s to move on in the next round.”

Tonight’s game

CENTRAL ARKANSAS

AT SOUTHERN METHODIST

WHAT NCAA Div. I men’s soccer tournament WHEN 7 p.m. Central WHERE Wescott Field, Dallas RECORDS Central Arkansas 9-10-1; SMU 15-2-1

TV None

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