LITTLE ROCK – A regional rivalry kicks off the Little Rock soccer season when Central Arkansas comes to the Coleman Sports & Recreation Complex on Friday at 7 p.m.
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The first 100 students in attendance to help begin the 2017-18 athletic calendar will be treated to a free meal from one of at least two different food trucks taking part in Food Truck Friday. Attending the game will be Kathmandu Momo and Little Penguin Tacos.
The Trojans will be looking to pick up right where they left off last season when the new year begins on Friday. Little Rock ended the 2016 campaign with a school-record 12 victories, earning their highest-ever finish in the Sun Belt Conference.
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This year, the team was picked to finish third in the league and got three first-place votes from league coaches. Senior forward
Quin Wilkes and junior forward Arola Aparicio were named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Team, giving the Trojans even more accolades before the season even begins. Wilkes and Aparicio are the team's top returning scorers as they each scored five goals in 2016.
The Trojans return 16 players from last season and are adding a very talented group of 11 newcomers. The team has three seniors, nine juniors, six sophomores and nine new freshmen. Of the 27 players, nine are from overseas while the other 18 are from the United States.
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Challenging Little Rock in its opening weekend will be Central Arkansas and Memphis. Both opponents were top-100 RPI teams in 2016 who won 15 and 14 games, respectively.
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The Bears defeated Little Rock 1-0 in Conway last season, but the Trojans had owned the historical rivalry before that. Little Rock has a 5-2 lifetime record against UCA. Last season, UCA won the Southland Conference regular-season crown with a 10-0-1 record in the league and finished No. 92 in the nation in RPI.
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Memphis, who will be hosting Little Rock on Sunday at 7 p.m., ended the 2016 season with a 14-5-1 record and were No. 30 in the national RPI rankings. The Tigers reached the NCAA Tournament and went 8-1-0 in the American Athletic Conference.
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KICK OFF
- The Trojan soccer team had its best-ever season in 2016 with a program-record 12 wins and six conference wins. The team finished third in the Sun Belt, its highest-ever finish.
- Little Rock reached the Sun Belt Tournament Semifinal for the first time since 2009 last year.
- The Trojans were picked to finish third in the Sun Belt when the league released its preseason poll last week.
- Senior Quin Wilkes and junior Arola Aparicio were named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt team by the league's coaches.
- The Trojans finished the 2016 season with an RPI of 95. The team had never broken 100 before the 2016 campaign.
- This weekend will test the Trojans against two top-100 RPI teams from last year. Little Rock beat Memphis in 2016 at home but lost on the road to UCA.
