The Missouri State men’s soccer team defeated the University of Central Arkansas Bears 2-1 on Tuesday night.  MSU dominated the match despite giving up a late goal in the final minutes of the game.

The Bears opened the scoring just under four minutes into the game when Heath Melugin headed in a Johannes Demarzi throw in from the left side.  Melugin was able to head the ball just over a leaping Greg Brooks for his second goal of the season.  The MSU Bears went on to outshoot UCA by a 9-4 margin in the first half. 

Missouri State controlled the second half with an aggressive offensive attack and was finally able to capitalize with just under five minutes left in the game.  Jordan Barnes fired a cross pass out of the right wing to a streaking Heath Melugin who blasted home his second goal of the night and third on the season. 

The UCA Bears answered just  37 seconds later when Adam Schwabauer collected a loose ball just past midfield and knocked home UCA’s only goal of the night from 30 yards out.  Despite the increased offensive pressure UCA came up short in their come back attempt.  

The MSU Bears controlled the tempo of the game with a steady and persistent offensive attack that yielded 21 total shots, 12 of them coming in the second half compared to UCA’s lone shot and goal.

“We came out and got two goals and a win at home, it was a great win for us against a scrappy team.” Said Head Coach Jon Leamy

The MSU Bears will look to build on the momentum from the win when they enter conference play this weekend against Drake. 

“You know we gave up goal late but we needed this win for some momentum going into the second half of the season with conference play” stated Leamy.

The Bears (3-6-3) will travel to Drake (8-2-0) on Saturday (Oct. 11) for a 7 p.m. game at Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines, Iowa.