Men's Soccer 11/5/2020 4:40:00 PM Adam Stanek - MACU Sports Information

Men’s Soccer Looking To Regroup Against Oklahoma Panhandle State

OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off its first loss of the 2020-21 season, the Mid-America Christian men's soccer team will be setting its sights on its second neutral site win of the season. The Evangels will battle against its newest Sooner Athletic Conference rival, Oklahoma Panhandle State at the campus of Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma on Friday. Kickoff is slated for approximately 3:30 p.m. at the Wanda Rhodes Soccer Complex.

Note: No spectators will be permitted inside the complex.

LAST TIME OUT
Mid-America Christian (4-1) struggled against the quick counters by Science & Arts (4-0-1) as the Drovers stunned the Evangels by a score of 3-2 at Evangel Field on Oct. 23.
Pero Mikulic was able to give MACU an early 1-nil lead with a third-minute score, but the Drovers were able to get a couple of goals before the half to take a 2-1 advantage into the halftime break.

The Drovers scored a pivotal insurance goal in the 68^th minute to stretch the lead to two before Hector Valles netted his first goal of the 2020-21 at the 74:05 mark to cut the deficit to 3-2.

MACU had a couple opportunities to match, but were unable to score the equalizer in the final 15 minutes of regulation.

SCOUTING THE AGGIES
Oklahoma Panhandle State will head into the matchup with a 2-3-1 record as the Aggies are coming off back-to-back 1-nil losses. In the team's last outing against Southwestern Assemblies of God on Oct. 23, the Aggies gave up a first half goal and struggled in the attack with only 10 shots, two of which were put on-goal in the defeat.
Allan Gamboa leads the balanced OPSU scoring with five of the team's 22 goals this season as all five were scored in the Aggies' 17-0 season-opening win against Ecclesia (Ark.). Jesus Sosa has been the center point of the Aggies offense, netting three goals on a team-high 15 shots, nine of which were on-goal. Vicente Tellos leads the passing attack with five assists and the second-most points on the team with nine.

In-goal, Hugo Dutour will be the likely starter for the Aggies, competing in five of OPSU's six matches and allowing a 1.69 goals against average while making 18 saves for a .692 save percentage.

HISTORY WITH THE AGGIES
In the team's first ever meeting at Community Christian School in Norman, Oklahoma last season, the Evangels grounded out a hard-fought 2-0 win in the Oct. 26, 2019 matchup. Fabian Forisch netted the game-winner in the 26^th minute while Rodrigo Albuquerque provided some insurance in the 55^th minute of the second half to secure the win. The Evangels stymied OPSU's offense, allowing the Aggies to attempt only six shots with only two finding the frame.

NET NEUTRALITY
In the last two seasons, Mid-America Christian has fared very well when competing on a neutral field. Last season, the Evangels went 5-0 in neutral site games, which included winning four straight with three consecutive shutouts at the 2019 NCCAA National Championships. The Evangels have continued to see success at neutral sites so far in 2020 after picking up a 9-0 win over Manhattan Christian (Kan.) at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kansas on Oct. 17. In those six neutral site games, the MACU defense has pitched five shutouts and allowed only two goals, both of which coming against Piedmont International (N.C.) in the first match of nationals in 2019.

GETTING BACK TO BASICS
After committing some crucial defensive miscues in the loss to the Drovers two weeks ago, Mid-America Christian will be looking to get back to its roots against the Aggies. After allowing only one goal on 22 shots and nine shots on-goal in the first four matches, the Evangels gave up three goals on 14 shots and nine shots on-goal in the loss to USAO. Despite the defensive struggles in that match, MACU still ranks 18^th in the NAIA in goals allowed average (0.8) and 11^th in shutouts per game (0.6).

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