OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mid-America Christian men's soccer team rallied in dramatic fashion against Bellevue (Neb.) on Saturday afternoon at Evangel Field as Rodrigo Albuquerque fired in the game-winning penalty kick with 53 seconds remaining to give the Evangels a 2-1 victory.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half
  • BU – 1:55 – Goal: Inako Aldao (9), Assist: John Cover
• 2^nd Half
  • MACU – 69:47 – Goal: Pero Mikulic (1), Assist: Dante Luz
  • MACU – 89:53 – Goal: Rodrigo Albuquerque (3)

 
MATCH SUMMARY

• Bellevue (4-3) was able to quickly jump out in-front in the second minute when John Cover's corner kick from the right side found the head of Bruins leading scorer Inako Aldao, finding the back left side of the net to give BU the 1-nil advantage.
• With just under 15 minutes left in the first half, Rodrigo Albuquerque had the best shot at an equalizer, but his 15-yard blast from the left side of the goal box pinged off the left post. The loose ball came right back to Albuquerque, but his follow-up was blocked by a sliding Bruins defender to keep the Evangels off the board.
• Mid-America Christian was finally able to get the equalizer in the 70^th minute when Dante Luz was able to pick the pocket of a Bruins defender just outside the 18-yard box. Driving down the right side, he dished a pass to his left for a wide open Pero Mikulic in the middle and he put the eight-yard shot into the middle of the net to bring the score to 1-1.
• With just under a minute left, Albuquerque tried to drive down the right side of the box, but his cross pass went off the hand of the BU defender, prompting the officials to call for a penalty kick. On the PK attempt, Albuquerque was able to look off the goalkeeper into diving toward the right side and fired the open shot into the bottom left corner of the goal to seal the 2-1 victory.

 
MATCH NOTABLES

• Mid-America Christian outshot Bellevue 15-8, which included a 6-4 edge in shots on-goal.
• After missing the season-opener due to injury, sophomore midfielder Pero Mikulic was a welcome sight for the Evangels attack, finishing the match with three shots, two on-goal and an equalizing goal in his return. Mikulic was the team leader in points a season ago with 36.
• Albuquerque led the MACU attack with seven shots, three of which were on-target. The forward from Recife, Brazil continued his climb up the MACU NAIA era record books as his 18^th career goal with the Evangels moved him into fourth outright on the career goal scoring list while his sixth game-winner moved him into third outright on the game-winning goals list, only two back of Evangels legend Raphael Bonelle.

 
NEXT UP

• Mid-America Christian will return to action next week as the Evangels will host Arizona Christian (1-1) on Thursday, Oct. 8 for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Evangel Field.