OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian men's soccer team will have one more non-conference warm-up as the Evangels will host Oklahoma Baptist for a 3 p.m. match at Evangel Field on Monday.
LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (5-1) picked up a pair of convincing victories last weekend, defeating Bethel College 5-0 before following it up with a 4-1 victory over Randall on Saturday.
In the victory over the Threshers, the Evangels scored four goals in the opening half, two of which came off the foot of sophomore forward Rodrigo Albuquerque while Allan Sorato and Simon Van Rheeden contributed goals as well. Kieran Chance netted his first goal of the 2019 season early in the second half as MACU rolled to a dominant victory.
Against Randall, MACU jumped out in-front early thanks to an 18th minute goal by Albuquerque while Dominik Tajak gave the Evangels some insurance going into the half with his second goal of the season in the 27th minute. Sorato and Van Rheeden were each able to find the back of the net in the 4-1 win.
SCOUTING THE BISON
Oklahoma Baptist enters Monday's contest with a 3-3 record and are coming off a 1-0 victory over Ouachita Baptist at home on Saturday. The Bison's frontline attack is led by junior midfielder Peterson Acosta, who has a team-high three goals, including Saturday's game-winner over the Tigers.
The goalkeeping duties have been split between Parker Lawter and Elias Diaz this season, as each have made three starts. Diaz has been the more effective of the two keepers, conceding just four goals and making 13 saves with a .765 save percentage while Lawter has given up 11 goals to go with 17 saves on a .607 percentage.
HISTORY WITH THE BISON
A clash of old Sooner Athletic Conference rivals, Oklahoma Baptist holds the 5-2 edge in the all-time series with the last meeting coming back in 2014. In that Oct. 7 matchup, the Bison pulled out the 3-1 home win over the Evangels. The last time the Evangels and Bisons met at Evangel Field, MACU got the better of Oklahoma Baptist with a high-scoring 5-4 victory on Oct. 8, 2013.
RIGHT TURN AT ALBUQUERQUE
Albuquerque had a breakthrough weekend for the Evangels last week. The Recife, Brazil product didn't score a goal in the first four matches of the season while taking 11 shots and putting five on-goal. In the Bethel and Randall matches combined, not only did Albuquerque net his first goal, but scored three goals off of eight shots, six of which were on-target.
THREE'S COMPANY, FOUR'S A CROWD
The balanced scoring efforts of the MACU men's soccer team during the 2019 campaign has stayed true three weeks into the season. Currently, four players (Albuquerque, Stephen Nganga, Sorato, Van Rheeden) lead the Evangels scoring efforts with three goals apiece. Three more players have scored at least twice (Pero Mikulic, Caleb Roldan, Tajak) this season.
