OKLAHOMA CITY – In 10 previous meetings, the Mid-America Christian University men's soccer team had not been able to defeat the John Brown University Golden Eagles. The Evangels had come close in 2012 with a 1-1 tie, and in 2017 taking a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat in a match the Evangels led for most of the afternoon.

On Tuesday afternoon, all that changed, as MACU broke into the win column.

MACU (6-1, 1-0 SAC) scored in the 19th minute, then added two more late in the match as the Evangels downed JBU (3-4-1, 0-1 SAC) 3-0 at home to open the Sooner Athletic Conference schedule.

Simon Van Rheeden nearly put the Evangels on the board in the second minute, but JBU's Britt Wisener was equal to the task, and the match remained scoreless. The Evangels owned much of the possession in the first half, and in the 19^th minute, Rai Ramus took the ball to the deep left end line and fired a pass back in front of the goal where Allan Sorato was waiting. Sorato rifled a missle of a shot into the back of the net to give MACU the 1-0 lead. The match was extremely competitive in the first half, but neither team dented the scoreboard again in the frame, and at the intermission, MACU held the 1-0 lead.

MACU began to assert control in possession and territorial advantage in the early stages of the second half, but the Evangels had to dodge a bullet before they were able to find some insurance. In the 72^nd minute, the Evangels turned the ball over, and Goncalo Verissimo took a shot that beat Liam Ward, but not the goalpost, and the lead remained in MACU's favor 1-0. Less than 10 minutes later, Simon Van Rheeden scored off a pass from Rodrigo Gigena to double the Evangels lead. In the 85^th minute, Caleb Roldan scored the final goal, again on an assist from Gigena, to provide the winning margin of 3-0.

Ward (4-1) made a pair of saves in the shutout victory, and Wisener (3-4-1) stopped four shots and allowed three goals for JBU. The Evangels out-shot JBU 14-11, including a 9-5 edge in the final 45 minutes.

MACU will face their toughest test so far on Saturday with they host the defending NAIA National Champions from #4 Wayland Baptist University (6-1, 1-0 SAC). The Pioneers and Evangels are slated to kick off at 2 p.m.