OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 19 Mid-America Christian men's soccer team just missed on some late chances as the Evangels drew their first match of the 2019 season by a score of 1-1 at Oklahoma City on Tuesday night.
Freshman forward Pero Mikulic scored the go-ahead goal for Mid-America Christian (11-2-1, 4-1-1 Sooner Athletic Conference) in the 75th minute, but the Evangels conceded the game-tying goal to Oklahoma City (6-8-1, 1-5-1 SAC) on a bad luck bounce off a defender with 12:44 remaining in the match.
Junior goalkeeper Austen Parker made some strong saves late in the second half, but was caught in a congested goal box when OCU's Julio Hernandez scored the 77th minute equalizer.
Kieran Chance had one last look with 3:49 to go in regulation, but his shot sailed wide to send the match into an overtime period.
In the first overtime, neither team could break through the defensive formations as OCU took the lone shot in the 10-minute period as the attempt went high with 1:36 remaining, eventually sending the match to a second 10-minute period.
The Evangels were able to force some opportunities in the last two and a half minutes, but Fabian Forisch had his shot blocked and Dominik Tajak could not quite put everything into his attempt in the middle of the box as the keeper made the save with 1:40 to go.
Mid-America Christian's best chance came in the waning moments as Allan Sorato was able to track down a loose ball in the crowded box after the goalkeeper fell, but his shot attempt was just a little too high, sailing over the crossbar with 12 seconds remaining to end the match in a stalemate.
The defenses for both teams played very well as both teams could only muster 13 shots in 110 minutes of action with the Evangels holding a slight 5-4 edge in shots on-goal.
Simon Van Rheeden led the MACU attack with four shots, putting two on-target while Parker gave up just one goal and making three saves.
Mid-America Christian will return home on Saturday as the Evangels will host Oklahoma Panhandle State for a 3 p.m. match in their second-to-last regular season home match.
