SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – In a battle of the two top teams in the Sooner Athletic Conference, the Mid-America Christian men's soccer team stood tall at the end of the night after scoring three second half goals to come away with a 3-1 victory at Alumni Field on Tuesday night.
It was a milestone victory for Mid-America Christian (14-2-1, 7-1-1 SAC) as the 2019 squad became the winningest team in MACU program history with its 14th win. After reaching the 13-win plateau the last two seasons, the Evangels' 14th win came at a crucial moment as John Brown and MACU are contending for spots in the NAIA Tournament. A win over the Golden Eagles greatly improved MACU's chances of earning a spot in the postseason tourney for the second straight year.
Senior midfielder Caleb Roldan put together his finest performance of season, recording the second multi-goal match of his career with scores in the 48th and the game-winner in the 52nd minute. Sophomore forward Rodrigo Albuquerque notched his second goal in three games and his eighth of the season with 15:05 to go in regulation.
John Brown (14-3, 8-1 SAC) was the aggressor in the first half as the Golden Eagles were able to maintain a majority of the possession and outshoot the Evangels 9-2 in the first 45 minutes. However, the MACU defensive backfield frustrated JBU as the Golden Eagles could only muster one shot on-goal.
The Evangels were the early aggressors in the second half as MACU's first great look came in the 48th minute when Pero Mikulic fired a shot from the right side that pinged off the right post to a wide open Roldan on the left side as his point-blank putback made it a 1-nil MACU lead.
Less than five minutes later, Roldan added to it after Fabian Forisch touched a pass to Rodrigo Albuquerque on the right side and his cross found Roldan near the far post, launching a shot past the diving keeper just inside the left post to extend the advantage to two.
Albuquerque gave the Evangels some insurance in the 75th minute when he juked a defender on the right side of the box and launched a well-placed shot into the top left corner out of the reach of the keeper to make it a 3-nil game.
John Brown notched a goal with just under seven minutes remaining to trim the gap to 3-1, but the Evangels would not allow the Golden Eagles any more opportunities for a comeback.
Despite JBU holding an 18-10 edge in the shots category over MACU, the Evangels were more effective with their shots with five finding their target while the Golden Eagles only placed three on-goal. Albuquerque and Roldan combined to take six of Mid-America Christian's 10 shots with five of them being on-target.
Sophomore goalkeeper Austen Parker improved to 14-2-1 in-goal for the Evangels, conceding just one goal and making a pair of saves.
With the No. 2 seed locked up, Mid-America Christian will now prepare to host its first ever SAC Tournament match as the Evangels will face seventh-seed Texas Wesleyan for the second time in six days. The SAC Quarterfinal match is slated for a 2 p.m. kickoff at Evangel Field on Friday, Nov. 8.
