The 2024 season begins at home for the Bears

CONWAY, Arkansas – The 2024 season is finally here for the Central Arkansas men's soccer team, which hosts Evangel on Thursday. With a 7:30 p.m. kickoff, the Bears will bring back a potentially dangerous team under their head coach Frank Kohlstein.

With two exhibition games behind us, it's time for the Bears to start the season off on the right foot. The team returns a wealth of talent from last year, including First Team All-ASUN forward Pietro Fontana. Fontana scored the most goals by a Bear in five years. Last season he scored 12 goals and is going into his junior season with 14 goals. He is supported in attack by Devonte Richardswho scored three goals and five assists, as well as Sohma Ichikawawho led the Bears with six assists.

On defense, Central Arkansas returns a pair of defenders who have played a lot of minutes in the back line. Elias Bishopnow in his second year, led the team last season with 1,502 minutes played. Josh Baros also returns to support the defense after spending 1,259 minutes on the field. In goal Javier Ramirez And Connor Wachtel shared the positions between the posts last season and made a total of 73 saves.

Evangel, an NAIA program, finished last season with a record of 5-6-6. After comfortably navigating a non-conference schedule with a 4-0 record, the Valor struggled in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. But with last season's top two scorers, Ted Okoroh (5 goals, 6 assists) and Igor Ovcarevic (3 goals, 4 assists), the Valor will look to bounce back in 2024.

Although Thursday's game will be played between two schools less than 200 miles apart, athletes from 22 countries across all six habitable continents will compete. The Bears have student-athletes from 11 countries, including new additions from Portugal, Canada, Mexico and Germany, and Evangel has student-athletes from countries such as Zimbabwe, New Zealand and Serbia.

Thursday's game will be at 7:30 p.m. at the Bill Stephens Track and Soccer Complex. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, with live stats available online.