OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off a season-opening win against Texas A&M-Texarkana last weekend, the Mid-America Christian men's soccer team will look for its second straight home win as the Evangels will take on Bellevue (Neb.) for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Evangel Field on Saturday.
LAST TIME OUT
Despite being shorthanded last week due to injuries, Mid-America Christian (1-0) was able to get its season off to a stellar start by shutting out Texas A&M-Texarkana (0-1) by a score of 4-0.
Junior forward Rodrigo Albuquerque scored the game-winning goal just 21 seconds into the match after pickpocketing the Eagles on the left side of the defensive backfield and driving down the left side before slipping his shot just past the goalkeeper and inside the left post to make it a 1-nil game.
Junior forward Luan Cesar also netted his first Evangels goal in the 23rd minute when Albuquerque juked his defender down the right side and found Cesar in the middle of the box from five yards out to make it a 2-0 game.
Albuquerque scored his second goal of the match in the 56th minute of the second half while Seth Lidell capped off the scoring with an 81st minute header.
SCOUTING THE BRUINS
Bellevue enters Saturday's contest with a 4-2 record, but after opening the season with four straight wins dropped a pair last week at Oklahoma Wesleyan 2-1 on Sept. 24 and 2-1 at Hannibal-La Grange (Mo.) on Sept. 26.
The MACU defense will need to look to slow down BU's red-hot striker Inaki Aldao, who ranks third in the NAIA with eight goals scored, including leading the nation with three game-winning goals. The Evangels will also need to key on midfielder Tony Millward, who leads the team with four assists to go along with the second-most goals with four.
Defensively, BU goalkeeper Harry Wray has only given up six goals this season on a one goal against average while making 15 saves for a .714 save percentage. However, Wray has given up four goals in the last two games, making just five saves for a .556 save percentage.
HISTORY WITH THE BRUINS
Mid-America Christian will be facing Bellevue for the first time in program history.
FROM ALBUQUERQUE TO OKC
In just his second season with the MACU men's soccer program, junior forward Rodrigo Albuquerque continues to shine in the Evangels attack. The Recife, Brazil product collected his second Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Week award after tying a career-high five points against the Eagles. In just 24 matches with the Evangels, Albuquerque is already tied for fourth on MACU's NAIA era goal scoring list with a pair of players on MACU's All-Decade Team in Bryce Jantz and Gleydson Neri. Albuquerque is also just three goals away from matching former teammate Allan Sorato on that esteemed list. Albuquerque is also chasing MACU shot records as he is only two shots away from becoming just the fifth MACU player to eclipse 100 career shots as well as three away from becoming the sixth player to surpass 50 shots on-goal.
PUTTING THE "MAN" IN WIESCHEMANN
A four-year starter in the MACU backfield, senior defender Simon Wieschemann has continued to command one of the best defenses in the NAIA. In their win over the Eagles last week, the MACU defense as a whole allowed TAMUT to attempt five shots with only one shot landing on-target. It was the seventh time in the last two years MACU has allowed five or fewer shots and the fifth-time a team has placed one or no shots on-goal. The Evangels defense continues to get better-and-better every year as MACU has allowed record low goals allowed the last two years, giving up only 23 in 2018 and 22 in 2019 for a 1.2 and 0.9 goals allowed average respectively. As a result of MACU's stellar defensive play against the Eagles, Wieschemann was tabbed as the Sooner Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his illustrious career.
STAT LEADERS
Goals: Rodrigo Albuquerque (2)
Assists: Josue Alanis, Rodrigo Albuquerque, Luan Cesar, Endri Copa (1)
Points: Rodrigo Albuquerque (5)
Saves: Juan Cediel (1)
