The UCA men’s soccer team lost to Memphis 6-4 Sept. 20 despite leading the first half 4-1. 

Four UCA players scored a goal in the first half, but Memphis came back strong in the second half, scoring five goals. 

Bernard Assibey-Rhule, a transfer graduate student, scored the first goal for the Bears 11 minutes into the game, which was quickly followed with a second goal by junior Rubyn Singh Gill. 

Senior Karim Diao scored the third goal for the Bears, which was also his first goal of the season.

“I like to score and scoring does a number for my confidence, so I was really excited to get a goal and also to see Karim get his first goal of the year as well,” Assibey-Rhule said. 

After Memphis scored a goal, junior Jerry Gutierrez scored the fourth goal for the Bears with just 44 seconds left in the first half of the game. 

Gutierrez said he was glad to score a goal, but “it’s something that doesn’t mean much, especially when we concede six,” Gutierrez said. “I’d rather win a game with a small goal margin and a clean sheet instead of conceding multiple goals.”

Memphis recovered in the second half, scoring two goals in the first 11 minutes. 

UCA fought to hold onto the lead, but Memphis scored three more goals to win the game. 

Assibey-Rhule said he had “mixed emotions” about the game overall and that the team had “lots of lessons” to learn from how the game turned out. 

“We started out strong and anytime you can score four goals in the first half, it’s a positive, but obviously blowing a lead that big is not good,” Assibey-Rhule said. “It was a hard fought game, even though it didn’t go the way we wanted.” 

Diao said the game was “tough” and that “mentally, it was a roller coaster.” 

Gutierrez said the team’s defense has room for improvement. 

“We need to improve our awareness in defensive set pieces and make sure we don’t concede anymore from those positions,” Gutierrez said. 

Assibey-Rhule said the team needs to improve in defending wide areas and “preventing dangerous crosses.”

Gutierrez said it is important to look at both the positives and the negatives of this game. 

“It’s crucial for our team to keep on growing and make sure we reach our season targets,” Gutierrez said. 

Diao said that despite the loss, he is confident that the team will succeed. 

“The result was not what we wanted, also we got shocked by their powerful coming back. Nevertheless, we are still on the way to win the ASUN and achieve our goals, so now we gotta move on to the next game against Stetson on this coming Saturday and get that ‘W,’” Diao said. 

UCA won 3-1 over the Stetson Hatters on Saturday, Sept. 25 in Deland, Florida. The win brought the team to 4-3-1 overall and 3-0 ASUN. 

The men’s soccer team will return home for a matchup against Lipscomb University on Oct. 1 at 12 p.m. Lipscomb and UCA are currently tied in preliminary ASUN standings, promising an equal game skill-wise.