KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Mid-America Christian men's soccer team will advance to its first NCCAA Semifinal since the 2009 season as the top-seeded Evangels scored a pair of late goals to come away with a 2-0 victory over No. 6 seed Roberts Wesleyan at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex on Wednesday.
Mid-America Christian (18-3-1) will receive the automatic bid from Pool A after winning both matches, including a 3-2 win over No. 9 seed Piedmont International on Monday.
Senior forward Allan Sorato netted the game-winner in the 75th minute while freshman forward Pero Mikulic added some insurance at the 88:10 mark to propel MACU to the two-goal victory.
The Evangels struggled to generate any sort of offensive threat in the opening half as Roberts Wesleyan (11-9-1) packed the defensive backfield to prevent a MACU score. If the match would have ended in a draw, then the Redhawks owned the goal-differential tiebreaker over the Evangels.
Mid-America Christian could only muster four shots in the first 45 minutes of regulation, but the Evangels defense did a strong job of preventing an RWC goal in their own right, allowing just five shots with two on-goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Austen Parker made a fantastic save with 4:20 left off a rocket shot from the left side by RWC's Alex Perez, sending the squads into the half with a scoreless tie.
The Evangels made some great halftime adjustments as MACU came out firing on the attack in the second half.
MACU's first great chance at a go-ahead goal came in the 58th minute when RWC goalkeeper Joe McNulty made a strong diving save on a powerful shot from Mikulic on the left side.
Four minutes later, Stephen Nganga had a great look at a game-winner from 15 yards out on the right side, but McNulty once again came up with a phenomenal save on the high shot, punching it over the middle of the crossbar to keep the game scoreless.
However, the Evangels persistence was able to pay off with 15:15 remaining when Carlos Castrejon collected a loose ball outside the box and fed a pass from the left side through a dummy play by Fabian Forisch in the middle of the box and ended up at the feet of Sorato on the right side. The Rio de Janiero, Brazil native was able to slip his game-winning 13th goal of the season in through the right side on the keeper coming out to crash at the point of attack to make it a 1-nil game.
With 1:44 left, Mikulic added some insurance when Forisch broke down the left side and touched a pass middle for the Croatian native. From just outside the 18-yard box, Mikulic launched a shot into the top right corner off the fingertips of the Redhawks goalkeeper.
The Evangels dominated the offensive possession in the second half, outshooting RWC 14-3 with a 5-1 margin in shots on-goal.
Sophomore forward Rodrigo Albuquerque led the offensive attack by taking eight of MACU's 18 shots with one falling on-target.
After picking up his program record single season shutout record earlier this season, Parker got back on-track with his 11th shutout of the season while making three saves in the contest. It was the Piedmont, Okla. native's first shutout since picking up a 3-0 victory over Texas Wesleyan in MACU's final regular season home match on Nov. 2.
The Evangels will be competing in their first SAC Semifinal since the tournament was switched to a pool play format in 2013 and their second NCCAA Semifinal ever. The last time MACU made the NCCAA Semifinal came during the 2009 season when the Evangels upset top-seeded Mid-Continent University 3-2 on Dec. 2, 2009 before falling to Judson 2-0 in the semifinal match on Dec. 3, 2009. Mid-America Christian ended the tournament in fourth place after falling to Covenant College 3-2 in the consolation match on Dec. 5, 2009.
Mid-America Christian will be back in-action at the NCCAA National Championships on Friday as MACU will either compete in the noon or 2:30 p.m. semifinal. The semifinal seeding will be determined after the completion of pool play Wednesday night.
