Men's Soccer 10/22/2020 1:11:00 PM Adam Stanek - MACU Sports Information

Men’s Soccer Renews Rivalry With Science & Arts On Friday

OKLAHOMA CITY – In what could be considered one of the best rivalries in the Sooner Athletic Conference the last four seasons, the Mid-America Christian men's soccer team will be looking to avenge its SAC Semifinal loss in 2019 as the Evangels host Science & Arts for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff on Friday.

LAST TIME OUT
Facing one of the top NCCAA Division II teams at the Stryker Sports Complex on Oct. 17, the Mid-America Christian men's soccer team (4-0) put together all-around dominant performance in a 9-0 win over Manhattan Christian (7-2).

The Evangels accomplished something that had never been done before since joining the NAIA in 2008 in the matchup as three different players recorded at least two goals and two assists. Rodrigo Albuquerque, Dante Luz and Pero Mikulic all reached the two-goal, two-assist plateau while Mikulic netted his first game-winner of the season less than a minute into the match.

Endri Copa, Nikola Djuric and Fabian Forisch also each scored their first goals of the season for the Evangels in the contest.
Once again, MACU dominated on the defensive end, limiting a Thunder squad averaging 5.67 goals per game to only three shots for the entire match and just one of those shots landing on-target.

Offensively, the Evangels also put together one of the best performances since joining the NAIA in 2008, tallying the second-most assists (9) and shots (40), the third-most goals (9) and points (27) as well as the fifth-most shots on-goal (19).

SCOUTING THE DROVERS
Science & Arts has gotten off to a strong start to the 2020-21 season, going 3-0-1 through the first four matchups. Despite only outshooting Central Christian 9-6 in their Oct. 16 matchup, the Drovers were able to take advantage of their limited opportunities in the 3-0 win over the Tigers at Drover Field.

The USAO attack is led by Abdel Nait-Zerrat, who has found the back of the net six times in the first four games of the season for 12 points while receiving some strong support from Hugo Medrano, who leads the team with 13 points on five goals and three assists. Angelo Leendertse has been the most effective passer in the Drovers offense with a team-high four assists.

The Drovers have split time between a pair of keepers in Bram Dekker and Nathan Fitch. Dekker has made three of the four starts and played two-thirds of the minutes in goal, allowing two scores on a 0.68 goals against average while making 12 saves for a .857 save percentage. Fitch has also performed well in his start and three match appearances as he has yet to allow a goal in 114 minutes and has made four saves so far on the season.

HISTORY WITH THE DROVERS
While USAO leads the all-time series 10-3-2, the recent series between the two teams has been an entertaining one to say the least. After the Drovers won the first eight from 2008-2015, MACU holds a 3-2-2 edge while technically getting wins in the two draws with both wins coming on penalty kicks in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament in 2017 and 2018. The two squads faced each other twice in 2019, as Mid-America Christian won the regular season matchup 4-0 at Evangel Field on Sept. 27 before the Drovers came back to MACU in the SAC Semifinal and upset the Evangels by a score of 4-3.

CAN'T LOSE WITH LUZ
While Mid-America Christian has started to hit its offensive stride four matches into the 2020-21 season, one of the players that has been making an impact in the Evangels attack as of late is junior forward Dante Luz. The transfer from Patrick Henry Community College has made some strong plays for the Evangels in the last three matches. In the win over Bellevue (Neb.), Luz came up with a fantastic tackle in the box and passed it to Pero Mikulic for the game-tying goal in the 70^th minute.
Luz followed it up with his first Evangels goal in a 2-0 win over Arizona Christian on Oct. 8, punching in an insurance goal inside the right post in the 72^nd minute to help lead MACU to its third win of the season. The Rio de Janiero, Brazil native has saved his best for last, scoring a pair of goals and dishing out two assists in Mid-America Christian's 9-0 victory over Manhattan Christian.

SAC CONTENTION
While the matchup doesn't count toward the Sooner Athletic Conference standings, Mid-America Christian and Science & Arts could be a potential preview of the league championship. The two teams were respectively picked second and third in the SAC Preseason Poll and both teams have faced each other in the conference championship match before. On Nov. 9, 2018, MACU and USAO fought for the SAC Championship at Drover Field and after completing regulation in a 1-1 tie and neither team breaking through in the overtime period, the Evangels won a 5-3 thriller on PKs. With MACU leading 4-3, Simon Van Rheeden put through the decisive kick to give the Evangels their first ever league title.

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