KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The top-seeded Mid-America Christian men's soccer team picked up its first victory at the NCCAA National Championships since 2009 as the Evangels held on for a 3-2 win over No. 9 seed Piedmont International (N.C.) in the first match of Pool A play on Monday afternoon at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex.
Sophomore forward Rodrigo Albuquerque netted his fourth game-winning goal of the season in the 69th minute while junior defender Simon Wieschemann and Allan Sorato each scored first half goals for the Evangels.
Mid-America Christian (17-3-1) opened the scoring quickly in the match, tallying the go-ahead goal just 3:23 in when Sorato went short on a right side corner to Carlos Castrejon, who touched pass back to Sorato on the right side. The senior forward then sailed a pass into the box, finding the head of Wieschemann, who headed it into the left side of the net from five yards out.
The Evangels had a golden opportunity to add to it at the 6:43 mark when Pero Mikulic broke away down the left side, but his shot that slipped past PIU goalkeeper Jeremiah Gibbs bounced off the right post and was cleared to end the MACU threat.
After picking up an assist on MACU's first goal, Sorato added score of his own in the 24th minute when Stephen Nganga was able to slip past a sliding tackle in the middle, delivering a nice pass to Sorato on a breakaway on the right side. Sorato launched a beautiful left-footed shot from just outside the box to the top left corner of the goal, extending the MACU lead to 2-nil.
The score by Sorato was his 12th of the season, tying the fifth-best single season goal mark in program history with Gleydson Neri and Raphael Bonnelle.
The Evangels took its two-goal advantage into the halftime break, outshooting the Bruins 10-2 in the first 45 minutes of action.
Piedmont International (9-7-2) didn't go down without a fight, as the Bruins pushed across a score on a Jason Meja Moreno header off a corner kick that floated just over the outstretched hands of MACU goalkeeper Austen Parker to the top right corner, cutting the Evangels lead to 2-1 with just over 38 minutes remaining.
With 21:18 left, Albuquerque came up with the decisive goal from right side as he was able to juke his defender from just outside the goal box and fire a rocket from the right side into the top right corner of the net to extend the Evangels lead back to 3-1.
The Bruins were able to quickly close the gap back to one when PIU's leading scorer Mario Salinas was able to slip a shot past Parker from the left side the pinged off the right post and into the goal, making it a 3-2 game with 17:59 left to go.
However, the Evangels were able to dominate defensively, not allowing Piedmont International to take a single shot the rest of the way.
Albuquerque did have one last chance to give the Evangels some insurance with just under two minutes remaining, but his shot from the left side bounced off the left post, keeping the score to a 3-2 final.
Despite the one-goal differential, the Evangels were able to dominate the possession, outshooting the Bruins by a 23-5 margin with a 10-2 edge in shots on-goal.
Albuquerque and Mikulic led the MACU attack with six shots apiece as three of Mikulic's shots were on-target while Albuquerque placed two on the mark.
The win was Mid-America Christian's first at the NCCAA National Tournament since the 2009 campaign when the Evangels topped Mid-Continent University 3-2 in the first match of pool play.
The Evangels will return to the field on Wednesday, Dec. 4 to wrap up pool play against sixth-seeded Roberts Wesleyan (N.Y.) at 1 p.m. (12 p.m. CST) at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex.
