CONWAY, Ark. - Senior Manuel Lira (Guadalajara, Mexico) scored twice and freshman Rob Smith (Lincolnshire, England) scored and assisted as the Bellevue University men's soccer team defeated Central Baptist College 3-1 in Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference action on Saturday afternoon. Bellevue scored all three of their goals in the first half and rode their stout defense in the second period to the victory.
The win was the fourth in a row for Bellevue (12-2-1, 4-0-0) who has clinched at least a share of the MCAC Regular Season title for the first time since 2010. By virtue of their win and holding the head-to-head tie-breaker the Bruins have secure home-field advantage throughout the MCAC Tournament.
Central Baptist (8-5-2) falls to 2-2-1 in MCAC play with their first loss following a three match unbeaten streak.
Bellevue opened the scoring with Lira notching his seventh goal of the season with the assist being credited to Smith. The Bruins doubled their advantage when Smith got on the score sheet with his team-best 10th goal of the year off a pass from junior Tobias Maertzke (Hamburg, Germany). The goal was Smith's MCAC-leading sixth game-winner of the year and he ranks second in that category nationally.
Lira struck again to put BU up by a 3-0 score off of a pass from sophomore Lee Woolmore (Norfolk, England).
The Mustangs found the back of the net in the 29th minute on a penalty kick by Josh Reed following a foul in the box to cut the BU lead to two at 3-1 but that's as close as they would get.
Central Baptist keeper Sage Ricker allowed all three goals before being lifted in the 40th minute in favor of Caleb Guyton who made the lone save of the match for the Mustangs.
Senior Scott Robertson (Burnley, England) made four saves for Bellevue to improve his record to 9-2-1 on the year.
Bellevue finished the match with a 9-7 advantage in shots while Central Baptists held a 5-4 edge in shots on goal. Each team was awarded three corner kicks in the match.
Bellevue will close out the regular season on Wednesday, Oct. 29 with a 5:30 p.m. Senior Night match against MCAC foe Waldorf College.
