OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian men's soccer team is preparing to host its first ever Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinal match as the second-seeded Evangels will take on No. 7 seed Texas Wesleyan for the second time in less than a week at Evangel Field for a 2 p.m. kickoff on Friday.
LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (14-2-1, 7-1-1 SAC) closed out the regular season with a monumental win at John Brown on Tuesday, as a 3-1 victory in Siloam Springs, Ark. captured MACU's program-record 14th win of the season. Senior midfielder Caleb Roldan recorded a pair of early second half scores while Rodrigo Albuquerque notched his eighth goal of the 2019 campaign in the 75th minute. It was an important win for the Evangels as both teams are strongly contending for a spot in the NAIA postseason tournament.
SCOUTING THE RAMS
Since falling to the Evangels last Saturday, Texas Wesleyan wrapped up the 2019 regular season with a 3-1 loss at home to Wayland Baptist to finish with a 4-14 overall record and a 3-6 mark in Sooner Athletic Conference play.
The Rams attack is led by senior forward Claudio Barraza, as the All-SAC Second Team honoree scored nine goals and two assists to go with a team-best 20 points on the season.
In goal, junior keeper Bastian Blumenberg will be the Rams likely starter. Through the first 18 games of the season, Blumenberg is giving up 2.73 goals per game and has made 106 saves for a .693 save percentage.
HISTORY WITH THE RAMS
Mid-America Christian took the lead in the all-time series last week as the Evangels are 4-3-1 all-time against the Rams and have won three straight since the 2017 season. Freshman forward Pero Mikulic scored the game-winner in the 23rd minute while Allan Sorato added to his team-leading 11th goal with a header put in the top left corner just before the halftime break. Carlos Castrejon also netted his first goal of the season with a long shot from the right side in the 77th minute.
SEEKING A SECOND STRAIGHT
Mid-America Christian will be gunning for its second straight Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Championship after winning the tournament in dramatic fashion last season. The Evangels opened the Quarterfinal round last season with a 2-0 victory at Oklahoma City on a pair of Sorato goals. The Evangels followed it up with a 2-1 win at the top seed Wayland Baptist on Tiuri Schieving's game-winning goal in the 79th minute.
The Evangels went on to win the championship match over USAO in dramatic fashion. After Kieran Chance scored the game-tying goal in the 65th minute in the second half, the match went to penalty kicks after the two overtime match ended in a stalemate. In PKs, the Evangels made all five of their free kicks, capped off on Simon Van Rheeden's match sealing fifth kick.
RACKING UP THE REWARDS
After completing the most successful season in program history, Mid-America Christian was well represented in the SAC All-Conference honors list. Dejue Johnson headlined a program-record nine Evangels earning All-SAC honors with the SAC Defensive Player of the Year award. MACU had three players join Johnson on the First Team, including Sorato, Simon Wieschemann and Austen Parker. The Evangels had five players make the All-SAC Second Team squad, including Albuquerque, Mikulic, Castrejon, Stephen Nganga and Fabian Forisch.
