The UCA men’s soccer team took hold of the Lipscomb Bisons’ horns, leading the Bears to a 2-1 victory Oct. 5.
This was the Bears’ first win against Lipscomb since 2013. Since then, UCA (5-4, ASUN 2-1) has lost to the Bisons (3-3-4, ASUN 1-1-1) eight times.
“The past years, especially last year, it was tough playing them,” sophomore defender Elijah Bishop said.
Bishop scored the first goal of the match only eight minutes and 16 seconds into the first period. Bishop was assisted by senior forward/midfielder Devonte Richards and senior midfielder Sohma Ichikawa.
“I’ve been hungry all year to score my first NCAA goal, so it was all just about the commitment and getting after the ball,” Bishop said.
Although neither team scored in the rest of the first period, the Bears managed to stay toe-to-toe with the reigning ASUN champions.
Coach Frank Kohlenstein said, “What we did is make sure that everybody was working together as a unit.”
UCA took seven shots on goal and saved four balls, keeping the ball on Lipscomb’s side of the field for the majority of the period. On the opposite side of the field, the Bisons took six shots and amassed four saves as well. Lipscomb took 13 shots throughout the game, with only five of them being on the goal. UCA also took 13 shots throughout, landing eight on the goal instead.
Four of UCA’s 13 shots would be attempted by junior forward Pietro Fontana, who would go on to score the Bears’ second goal.
Bishop said, “We’ve been hungry to play this team all year. We were up by one in the first half and that just gave us the extra energy to boost in the second half.”
Fontana scored his goal in the last 13 minutes of the second half with an assist from Richards.
“Pietro [Fontana] was really good,” Kohlenstein said. “I think the biggest thing, he doesn’t have as many goals as he had last year, but what he’s doing is he’s becoming a more complete player, because he’s working on other aspects of his game, and those are helping us to win, whether it’s defending or hold-up playing or those other things that he needs to do.”
Although the Bears kept a 2-point lead for quite some time, the second period didn’t come without its struggles, as UCA struggled to keep the Bisons away from its side of the field.
“They [Lipscomb] were down, so the team that’s down always has the push, so they were pushing against us,” Kohlenstein said. “What we did was kind of absorb the pressure.”
In the final three minutes of the second period, Lipscomb scored its first and only goal.
“We did allow one near the end, but you know, it was close enough to the end that we figured that we could do a good job of making sure that we won the match,” Kohlenstein said.
With Lipscomb unable to secure a second goal, the Bears beat the Bisons 2-1. This was the first time UCA had beaten the Bisons on home turf.
Bishop said, “It was great from everyone, especially in the second half towards the end, everyone was willing to work willing to work.”
The Bears played the Tulsa Golden Hurricane at 7 p.m. Oct. 8 in Oklahoma.
UCA will return home to face the Jacksonville Dolphins at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11.
Kohlenstein said, “Our conference is always tough, so it doesn’t matter what a team’s record is, when you face them in the conference, they’re going to be really, really tough.”