OKLAHOMA CITY – Sophomore forward Rodrigo Albuquerque has been no stranger to making clutch shots in his early Mid-America Christian men's soccer career, but none were bigger than his golden goal in the 102nd minute of Friday's Sooner Athletic Conference Quarterfinal against Texas Wesleyan as the Evangels survived and advanced with the 3-2 victory at Evangel Field.
After having so many close opportunities just miss, Mid-America Christian (15-2-1) was finally able to cash in when freshman forward Pero Mikulic received a pass down the left side and dribbled out to regroup before firing a laser through the defense to Albuquerque crashing the middle. The sophomore sensation took a short dribble to the right side and launched a shot into the right side of the goal just under the crossbar to complete the monumental victory.
Junior defender Simon Wieschemann converted on his third penalty kick goal of the season and Mikulic scored his ninth goal of the season on a 51st minute header to join Albuquerque in the scoring column.
Texas Wesleyan (4-15) was able to hold off an early Evangels onslaught of attacks before TWU's Julius Williams punched in the go-ahead goal in the 24th minute to put MACU down 1-nil.
With just under nine minutes to go in the first half, the Evangels were able to break through on an attack when Fabian Forisch laid out a pass to Dominik Tajak, who was tackled in the box by a Texas Wesleyan defender, setting up a penalty kick. On the attempt, Wieschemann launched a shot through the top right corner to draw the match even heading into the halftime break.
Early in the second half, MACU grabbed its first lead of the contest when Carlos Castrejon laid out a nice touch pass for Caleb Roldan streaking down the left side. Near the left baseline, Roldan centered it for Mikulic, who headed the ball into the right side of the goal to make it a 2-1 Evangels advantage just 5:13 into the second half.
The lead didn't last long as the Rams retaliated quickly. With 37:57 left to play in the half, TWU's Eddy Rodriguez slipped a shot in from the left side just inside the left post, locking the game back up at 2-2.
Mid-America Christian had the best opportunity at a potential game-winner in regulation at the 6:39 mark when Roldan placed a beautiful pass into the middle of the box from the right side, but Hector Valles' header barely sailed over the crossbar to keep the match deadlocked after 90 minutes of play.
Neither team were able to get any good looks in the first overtime period, but the Evangels were finally able to prevail with 8:42 remaining with Albuquerque's golden goal.
While the score was close throughout, MACU dominated the offensive possession in the match, outshooting Texas Wesleyan by a 34-10 margin with a 13-3 edge in shots on-goal. Albuquerque led the Evangels with six shots while Castrejon and Valles finished with five apiece.
Despite giving up two goals in the contest, sophomore goalkeeper Austen Parker continued to add to his program record 15th win in goal with a save.
After hosting its first Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament match in program history, the Evangels will return to Evangel Field for one more as Mid-America Christian will take on No. 3 seed Science & Arts in the SAC Semifinal round at 2 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 11.
