(September 28, 2025) Mena, Arkansas - After a 3-0 road loss on Wednesday at Rose State, the men began a very important stretch in their season on Sunday against NOC-Enid at home. The Bucks are fighting for their postseason berth. Sunday's match with Enid was an opportunity to help their cause. Earlier this season, the Bucks beat Enid 4-0 on the road. 

 

UARM entered the game with the scenario that this was a 'must not lose' type of game. A postseason qualification is coming down to the wire, and it was important to not lose ground to your closest competitors looking for that post season berth. The Bucks started very brightly and on the front foot, sending Diogo Furtado (Paris, France) free and open onto the Enid goal. His shot just missed the near post with only the goalkeeper to beat. Sadly, Furtado remained on the ground after the shot and had to leave the game early with an injured ankle. 

 

UARM had to re-adjust their offensive patterns as a result of the injury, and it took some time for the team to adjust which allowed Enid to get a foothold in the game. Enid bombarded UARM with constant high long balls, long throw-ins, and corner kicks into the UARM penalty area, looking to take advantage of any mistake the Bucks could potentially make. UARM created scoring opportunities for themselves, but the goalkeeper was equal to anything the Bucks could throw at him, saving low potential goal bound shots time and time again.  

 

Halftime was a chance for UARM to refocus their game plan, and it had an immediate effect in the first minute of the second half when Ian Aguirre (Toranto, Canada) was dragged down for a penalty kick after getting behind the outside defender driving into the penalty box. Aguirre got up and stepped up to calmly convert the penalty kick low into the right corner of the goal to give the Bucks the 1-0 lead.

 

The game became a stop/start type of game with constant free kicks being awarded as each team struggled to get any flow or continuity in their game. UARM had so many good looks to score the second goal and put the game to bed, but for some reason, the ball refused to go in. The inevitable happened when a team does not convert their chances. With only 90 seconds remaining in the game, Enid scored after running onto a long ball behind the UARM back line to a striker finding himself on the end line. Miraculously, the ball was chipped over the goalkeeper and nestled into the far corner of the goal from an incredible angle. The match would end in a 1-1 draw.

 

While disappointed in the draw in the final minutes, Coach Sherry was still happy with the result on the day. "We need to learn how to kill games off. We had the ball with our strikers in the last 2 minutes of a game, and we were leading. Rather then running the clock down, we were naive and lost the ball resulting in the long ball, ultimately conceding an equalizing goal at the end of tbe match. Having said that, I told the team that the result was still a positive. Yes, it could have been better but we did not lose, which was the most important thing about today. We are still in a strong position to qualify for postseason play."

 

The Bucks will now play again on Wednesday, October 1st, at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 pm at Red Robertson Field in Miami, OK.