Box Score STERLING, Kan. – Following a low scoring first half, the Mid-America Christian men's soccer team notched four second half goals to defeat Sterling College 5-2 on a hot Saturday afternoon.
Freshman midfielder Pero Mikulic scored a pair of goals in the contest, Caleb Roldan notched his second goal of the season, while Allan Sorato and Stephen Nganga each scored their first goals of the year to lead the Evangels offensive charge.
It didn't take long for MACU to establish some momentum as Sorato pushed across the first goal of the match in the 10th minute to give the Evangels the early 1-0 edge.
The Mid-America Christian lead didn't last long as Sterling's Jonathan Carcamo was able to tie the match up at the 19:37 mark. The goal was the first score the Evangels had given up nearly 200 minutes of action so far in the 2019 campaign.
Both teams would only be able to muster one more shot on-goal the remainder of the half as the match was tied at one heading into the break.
The Evangels made some solid adjustments at the half as they were consistently able to put pressure on the Warriors defense all throughout the second half.
MACU reclaimed the lead in the 63rd minute when Rodrigo Albuquerque found Stephen Nganga for the go-ahead goal, making it a 2-1 Evangels advantage.
Ten minutes later, Mikulic added his imprint on the box score, finding the back of the net for his first career goal to extend the MACU edge to 3-1.
Sterling refused to go down without a fight as they were quickly able to get the goal back at the 76:19 mark as Nicolas Galvez's shot from the left side found the back right corner of the net, narrowing the Evangels lead to 3-2.
However, the Evangels spared little time recapturing the two goal lead as Mikulic was able to beat his defenders down the left side and push his second goal of the match past the diving keeper to stretch Mid-America Christian's advantage back to 4-2.
In the waning minutes of the match, Caleb Roldan added another score for good measure, tallying his second goal of the season in the 89th minute to close out the 5-2 victory.
The Evangels finished the match with a season-high 18 shots taken, putting 11 on-goal while the Warriors finished with eight shots, placing six on-goal.
Albuquerque took five shots for the Evangels while Sorato finished with four shots, all of which were on-target. Sophomore goalkeeper Austen Parker moved to 3-0 in goal for MACU this season, recording four saves for the match.
Mid-America Christian will be home for the first time during the 2019 season next week as the Evangels will host three matches. MACU will take on Louisiana State Shreveport in their home opener on Wednesday, Sept. 11 at noon before taking on Bethel (Kan.) on Friday and Randall (Okla.) on Saturday.
