OKLAHOMA CITY – Senior Dan McNicholas made his first start for the Mid-America Christian University men's soccer team in the Evangels' win in their match last Saturday night in Houston. The Evangels turned to McNicholas again on Friday, and the result was another good one for MACU.
MACU (4-1) got a goal from Simon Van Rheeden in the eighth minute, and they never looked back, taking a 3-0 win from PQC (2-2-1).
Van Rheeden's tally came on the first shot of the match. The ball was sent toward the top of the box, and after a deflection, Van Rheeden corralled the ball and fired a shot into the right side of the net to put MACU up 1-0.
With the Evangels nursing the 1-0 lead, and pressure mounting approximately eight minutes later, McNicholas made two excellent saves on Axel Chakounte to keep MACU in the lead. McNicholas added two more saves later in the half, and MACU held the 1-0 lead into the break despite being out-shot 8-6 in the half.
Coming out of the intermission, MACU began to turn the momentum, and in the 54th minute, Allan Sorato took a pass from Roger Peron and fired a shot past Jesus Rangel to double the MACU lead. Three minutes later, Rai Ramus found Sorato again, and the junior transfer rocketed home his second goal of the game to put MACU up 3-0. The Evangels kept the pressure on, and the margin held up as MACU took the 3-0 win.
McNicholas (2-0) made five saves in the match, earning his second straight shutout in the win. Rangel (2-2-1) stopped eight shots in the loss.
The Evangels will be back at home on Tuesday afternoon when they host Dallas Christian College (0-2). The match, which was originally scheduled as a part of a double-header, will now be played as a single game at 3 p.m.
