OKLAHOMA CITY - Weather forced the postponement of the Mid-America Christian University men's soccer match against Central Christian College of Kansas from Tuesday afternoon to Thursday evening. The Evangels also relocated the match to nearby Westmoore High School, allowing the Evangels to play the match under the lights.
MACU (9-2, 4-1 SAC) struck first in the match, and after CCCK (7-6, 0-5 SAC) equalized early in the second half, senior Oliver May tallied twice in the final half hour to give the Evangels a 3-1 win in the match. The victory mathematically locked MACU into the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament field, and the Evangels maintained control of their own destiny in their pursuit of an SAC championship.
The Tigers started quickly in the match, frustrating the Evangels' offense as the Tigers took away time and space on the narrow playing surface, but in the 34th minute, MACU broke through. Kacey Owensby - who had entered the match just two minutes prior - found himself in the middle of the CCCK penalty area on a corner kick play, and after a block of the initial service into the box, May found the loose ball and sent it over to Owensby who slotted it home to give MACU the 1-0 lead.
MACU carried that lead into the second half, but CCCK took advantage of a broken play early in the second stanza to equalize. The Evangels turned the ball over in their defensive half, and Omar Salgado sent a pass to Matias Nunez who made a perfectly timed run in behind the MACU defense and fired home a drive to tie the score at 1-1.
In the ensuing moments, MACU applied pressure and the Tigers dodged a couple of great chances, but that luck ran out in the 63rd minute. On yet another scramble play in front of the goal, Simon Van Rheeden found May who buried the opportunity to put MACU back on top 2-1. The Tigers - who knew they needed to get points to help their own postseason hopes - pressed forward and in 89th minute, May and the Evangels added an insurance marker. As the ball came in toward Van Rheeden on the right goalpost, the junior from the Netherlands allowed the ball to go through at the last second, and Allan Sorato founr May all alone on the back post again as May capped off a five point evening and sealed the 3-1 win for MACU.
Liam Ward (7-2) earned the win with a trio of saves and only one goal allowed. Sebastian Herrera (2-1) made six saves and yielded three goals in the loss.
MACU will be off this weekend, and the Evangels will hit the road next week for the final time in the regular season. The Evangels will be back in action on Tuesday, October 16 at Southwestern Assemblies of God University (4-9-1, 1-4 SAC) at 4 p.m.
