BETHANY, Okla. – The No. 20 Mid-America Christian men's soccer team had a tough end to its eight-match win streak as Southwestern Christian defeated the Evangels 2-1 on a golden goal in the 104th minute of double overtime on Tuesday.
Stephen Nganga scored his sixth goal of the season in the 48th minute and Mid-America Christian (11-2, 4-1 Sooner Athletic Conference) outshot Southwestern Christian (7-5, 5-1 SAC) 23-10 in the contest, but the Eagles made some outstanding defensive plays to limit the Evangels to its lowest scoring output of the season.
The Evangels struggled to find scoring opportunities in the first half while the Eagles claimed the first lead of the match with a 34th minute score to take a 1-nil lead.
Caleb Roldan had a great chance for an equalizer in the 41st minute off a free kick just outside the goal box, but the Southwestern keeper made a phenomenal diving save on the left side of the goal box to keep Eagles in-front heading into the halftime break.
Mid-America Christian entered the second half with some aggression on the attack, finally breaking into the box score with Nganga collecting a deflected ball off a free kick and slipping a shot into the right side past the diving keeper to tie the score at one.
Despite outshooting the Eagles 13-3 in the second half, the Evangels couldn't muster a second goal, sending the match to an overtime period.
Southwestern Christian was the aggressors in the first overtime, outshooting MACU 3-0 in the period, but the Evangels were able to keep the Eagles from scoring the golden goal to send the match into a second 10-minute overtime period.
MACU held the early momentum in the second overtime, firing three shots in the first four minutes, but the Eagles ultimately won the contest on a breakaway down the left side and firing a shot into the top right corner of the goal just out of the reach of Austen Parker to hand the Evangels just their second loss of the season.
Even though the Evangels held a wide margin on shots on-goal, MACU struggled to place shots on-target in the windy conditions by putting just eight on-goal.
Allan Sorato led the offensive attack with six shots with one being on-goal while Rodrigo Albuquerque took five shots and placed two on-target.
Parker lost just his second match of the 2019 season after giving up two goals and making a pair of saves.
Mid-America Christian will look to get back on the winning track next week as the Evangels will head uptown to face Oklahoma City at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
