OKLAHOMA CITY - When a team loses a game in the regular season, often times that team wants a shot at revenge in the postseason. On Saturday afternoon, the Mid-America Christian University men's soccer team got just that type of a chance, and the Evangels made the most of it.
MACU (11-5) got a pair of goals from junior Allan Sorato, and Dan McNicholas earned his third shutout of the season in goal, as the Evangels upset the Oklahoma City University Stars (11-5) at OCU 2-0 in the Sooner Athletic Conference men's soccer championship.
OCU got the first chance of the match in the fifth minute, as a corner kick from Petar Djurdjevic was served in to Nick Stremel, and stremel's shot was saved off thel ine by the MACU defense. Djurdjevic had two more early chances, but McNicholas saved one and the other went high, and MACU used those stops to build confidence.
Simon Van Rheeden had MACU's first chance in the 21st minute, and it was turned aside by Andre Salvador, but moments later, MACU broke through. Sorato finished a double-assist play from Rai Ramus and Simon Weischemann to give MACU the 1-0 lead, and that gave MACU even more confidence. Djurdjevic had a chance to tie the score in the final minute of the first half, but he rang the shot off the crossbar, and the Evangels took a 1-0 lead into the half.
OCU opened the second half by pressing for the tying goal. Djurdjevic had another chance just 41 seconds into the second half, and McNicholas had to be sharp to save that opportunity, as well as chances from James Beattie in both the 53rd and 62nd minutes, and Michnicholas was equal to each test. Just more than a minute after the second opportunity from Beattie was turned aside, Sorato struck again, firing a a shot from the left wing into the right corner of the net to double the MACU lead, but instead of sitting back, MACU continued to apply pressure to OCU. MACU took five of the match's final eight shots, and only one of the three shots generated by OCU was on target, as MACU took the win 2-0.
McNicholas (3-0) made five saves in earning his third shutout of the season, and Salvador (10-5) took the loss, allowing two goals and making five stops.
MACU has advanced to the SAC tournament semifinal round for the second season in a row, doing so after a win for the first time in program history. The Evangels will face the same task that OCU faced on Saturday when they head to Plainview, Texas to take on the Wayland Baptist University Pioneers (13-3) on Tuesday. MACU won the regular season meeting between the two teams in Oklahoma City on September 29 by a score of 1-0. Match time for the semifinal has not been announced.
