OKLAHOMA CITY – Coming off one of the winningest seasons in program history that included an appearance at the NCCAA National Championships, the Mid-America Christian women's soccer team will look to continue to build upon that success with the release of its 2020 schedule.
The Evangels will open the 2020 slate with five non-conference matches, starting with their season opener at Lyon (Ark.) at 5 p.m. on Sept. 8. MACU will then head to Wichita, Kan. on Saturday, Sept. 12 to take on a highly competitive Friends (Kan.) team that finished the 2019 season with a 15-6 record.
"With the change in the amount of games we can play this season we were fortunate to still keep a strong schedule," said MACU Head Coach Evan Dresel. "With the addition of Friends University on the non-conference schedule, we were able to pick up a high quality opponent that competed in the NAIA National Tournament last season."
Mid-America Christian will then host Sterling (Kan.) on Tuesday, Sept. 15 for its home-opener at 2 p.m. at Evangel Field. The Evangels will wrap up non-conference play at Bacone on Friday, Sept 18 before returning home on Thursday, Sept. 24 for a 1 p.m. match against Texas A&M-Texarkana.
The Evangels will officially open Sooner Athletic Conference play with a road match at Southwestern Assemblies of God at 11 a.m. on Sept. 29 before closing out the road swing at Texas Wesleyan with a 5 p.m. kickoff on Oct. 3.
"Obviously the conference schedule is always grueling," said Dresel. "However, I was happy with the steps we took forward last year and we are excited for the challenge this year."
MACU will play its first SAC home match of the season at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6 against Central Christian before hosting Wayland Baptist at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10.
The Evangels will have three home games and a pair of road games in the final half of Sooner Athletic Conference play. MACU will host Oklahoma City on Oct. 20 and John Brown on Oct. 24 before closing out its regular season home schedule with a Senior Day game against Southwestern Christian at 2 p.m. on Oct. 27.
MACU's road matches will consist of a challenging contest at Science & Arts on Oct. 16 before wrapping up the regular season at Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday, Oct. 31.
If Mid-America Christian finishes in one of the top eight spots in the league standings, the Evangels will compete in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament being held from Nov. 4-10 with the top four seeds hosting first round games.
The Evangels will be looking to continue to build upon the success of last year's team that went 14-6-1 and 6-2-1 in Sooner Athletic Conference play to finish fourth in the league standings and host its first SAC Tournament Quarterfinal match since 2010.
MACU ended up advancing to its fourth NCCAA National Championship Tournament in six seasons when it defeated Southwestern Christian 4-0 in the NCCAA Central Region Championship match on Nov. 19, 2019 at Evangel Field. The Evangels also picked up a huge 4-0 win over Erskine (S.C.) at the national meet on Dec. 3, but MACU saw its postseason run come to an end in a hard-fought 2-0 loss to national runner-up Ottawa (Ariz.) on Dec. 4.
