OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian men's soccer team mustered a rally from a three-goal deficit to Science & Arts in the second half, but the Evangels comeback efforts fell just short as the Drovers handed MACU a 4-3 loss in the Sooner Athletic Conference Semifinal at Evangel Field on Tuesday.

The Evangels trailed 3-1 at the halftime break and the Drovers extended their lead to three with a point blank tap-in goal less than two minutes into the second half to make it 4-1.

However, Mid-America Christian (15-3-1) clawed its way back with a Fabian Forisch goal in the 54^th minute and Rodrigo Albuquerque punched in his second goal of the game with 22:15 remaining. However, the Evangels opportunities were limited over the final 20 minutes as Science & Arts (13-5-1) held off MACU to advance to the SAC Championship game.

USAO jumped out to the early advantage after USAO's Abdel Nait-Zerrad fired a shot into the left side of the goal, making it a 1-nil USAO lead just 12:24 into the first half.

MACU was able to respond quickly with as Stephen Nganga broke down the left side and found a streaking Albuquerque on the right side. The sophomore forward was able to dribble and fire a shot from 10 yards out from the right side of the box out of the reach of the keeper, making it a 1-all game in the 13^th minute.

In the 27^th minute, USAO's Angelo Leendertse scored off a give-and-go from a middle pass to the right side and received the ball back while crashing on the goal box, firing it into the back of the net from 15 yards out to retake a 2-1 edge.

With 11:44 remaining in the half, the Drovers extended its lead to two on Nait-Zerrad's second goal of the match, sending the Evangels into the half with a 3-1 deficit.

Just 1:56 into the second half, USAO's Amos Ferka was able to get a foot on a ball off the head of Telmo Lertxundi from point-blank into the left side, stretching the USAO advantage to 4-1.

Trailing by three, the Evangels did not go down without a fight as Forisch pushed through a goal to ignite the Evangels offense. In the 54^th minute, Carlos Castrejon delivered a pass to Pero Mikulic on the right side, who touched pass toward a breaking Forisch on the right side as he launched a shot into the top right half of the goal just underneath the crossbar.

With 21:15 left, Albuquerque cashed in his second goal of the match when he tracked down a loose ball on the left side of the goal box and put a well-placed shot just inside the left post, trimming the deficit to 4-3.

Mid-America Christian had limited opportunities the remainder of the half as Kieran Chance and Albuquerque took a pair of long shots, but were unable to slip them past USAO keeper Daniel Merkel.

After getting outshot by a 10-4 margin and a 5-3 edge in shots on-goal in the first half, the Evangels clamped down defensively by limiting the Drovers to just four shots while taking five in their own right. MACU was slightly more accurate with 7-of-9 shots being on-target shots while Drovers were only able to put six of their 14 shots on-goal.

Albuquerque was the Evangels unquestioned offensive leader in the match, scoring his two goals on a team-leading three shots, all of which were on-goal.

Mid-America Christian will now wait to see where it will be playing in the postseason. The Evangels are in-contention for an NAIA Tournament spot, which will start on Friday, Nov. 22.