OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 23 Mid-America Christian men's soccer team opened its 2019 Sooner Athletic Conference slate in impressive fashion as the Evangels dominated the SAC preseason favorite University of Science & Arts 4-0 on Friday afternoon at Evangel Field.
Dominik Tajak and Simon Van Rheeden netted Mid-America Christian (7-1, 1-0 SAC) a pair of goals in the first half while Allan Sorato and Kieran Chance added to it in the second half to allow the Evangels to run away with a rout.
Science & Arts (4-3-1, 0-1 SAC) had some early momentum, outshooting the Evangels 5-1 through the first 26 minutes, but were unable to capitalize on any of the opportunities.
The Evangels turned the tide in the 27th minute when Sorato's cross from the right side found the head of Tajak and he was able to put it past the keeper on the left side of the goal to make it a 1-nil game.
With 12 minutes remaining in the half, Van Rheeden tallied his fourth season after Caleb Roldan's cross bounced off the hands of the goalkeeper to the senior forward in the box, firing a shot into the open net to extend the edge to 2-0.
In the second half, Sorato added a goal to go with his first half assist. In the 61st minute, the senior forward from Brazil was able to launch a well-placed shot from 30 yards out from the right side and into the top left corner of goal to stretch the MACU edge to three.
With 21:40 remaining in the match, Chance tallied his second goal of the season on an intriguing series of events.
On the play, Chance was able to break away down the right side and put a cross into the center of the goal box that deflected off a USAO defender and back toward the open Drovers goal. The USAO goalkeeper Albert Merkel was able to scramble back and make a diving save to push the ball out toward the right side, but Chance was right there for the immediate put back to make it a 4-nil game.
Despite getting outshot 16-14 in the match, the Evangels were the more accurate team by holding a 9-7 edge in shots on-goal.
Chance, Van Rheeden and Rodrigo Albuquerque led the MACU attack in the contest with each taking three shots and all placed two on-target.
After transferring to MACU from USAO during the off-season, sophomore goalkeeper Austen Parker was able to get the better of his former team by picking up his fifth shutout of the 2019 season and tying a season-high six saves.
Mid-America Christian will look to keep the momentum rolling against another challenging SAC foe next week as the Evangels will head to Plainview, Texas to take on Wayland Baptist at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
