OKLAHOMA CITY – With the team coming off the program's first ever NCCAA National Championship, the Mid-America Christian men's soccer team has high expectations heading into the 2020-21 season as the Evangels were tabbed to finish in a tie for second in the Sooner Athletic Conference Preseason Poll released on Thursday.
Voted upon by the league's head coaches, the Evangels received 68 votes and three first place votes, locking up with traditional SAC powerhouse Science & Arts, who also received 68 votes and two first place tallies.
The 2019 Sooner Athletic Conference Champion John Brown was predicted to repeat as the league's title winner, receiving 76 votes along with five first place selections.
Wayland Baptist (59, 4th), Southwestern Christian (47, 5th) and Oklahoma City (40, 6th) were picked to finish in the middle of the pack while Oklahoma Panhandle State (31, t-7th), Texas Wesleyan (31, t-7th), Southwestern Assemblies of God (18, 9th) and Central Christian (12, 10th) rounded out the poll.
The Evangels are coming off a 2019 campaign that saw the program break nearly every offensive and defensive record imaginable on its way to winning a national championship.
MACU opened its NCCAA title run with the program's first NCCAA Central Region Championship since 2013, knocking off the three-time NCCAA National Champion Southwestern Christian 6-3 on Nov. 22.
During the first match of pool play at the NCCAA National Championships, the Evangels held on for a hard-fought 3-2 win over Piedmont International (N.C.) on Dec. 2, but the defense stifled the competition throughout the remainder of the championship event by pitching three consecutive shutouts. After pitching a 2-0 victory over Roberts Wesleyan (N.Y.) in the last match of pool play on Dec. 4, Mid-America Christian advanced to the semifinal round.
In the NCCAA Semifinals against Ottawa (Ariz.), freshman forward Pero Mikulic broke through the defensive struggle by scoring the game-winning goal in the 85th minute to propel the Evangels to a 1-0 victory. The Evangels scored early and often against Grace (Ind.) in the championship match to come away with the 5-0 victory.
Offensively, MACU finished the year with 94 goals scored, 81 assists and 267 total points, blowing away the previous NAIA era records set during the 2017 season of 52 goals, 37 assists and 141 points. On the defensive side of the field, the Evangels allowed only 22 goals for a 0.9 goals against average, the fewest allowed in any single season, topping the records set by the 2018 roster of 23 on a 1.2 gaa. By also pitching 13 shutouts, MACU shattered the previous record of nine recorded by the 2017 team.
The Evangels return several talented players from last year's roster, including four NCCAA All-Americans in junior forward Rodrigo Albuquerque (2019 – 1st Team), senior defender Simon Wieschemann (2018 – 2nd Team), sophomore defender Fabian Forisch (2019 – 2nd Team) and junior goalkeeper Austen Parker (2019 – 3rd Team).
Along with those four All-Americans who also received All-Sooner Athletic Conference honors, the Evangels also return three other All-SAC athletes, including the SAC Defensive Player of the Year in senior defender Dejue Johnson, as well as All-SAC Second Team honorees in Mikulic and senior midfielder Carlos Castrejon.
A 5-8 forward from Recife, Brazil, Albuquerque tied Raphael Bonelle's second-best single season program goal scoring record with 15. The Evangels also return its third-leading goal scorer in Mikulic, as the 6-3 mid from Waiblingen, Croatia matched Bonelle and Willy Deleon for the most assists in a single season with eight to go along with his 14 goals.
Forisch, an Erlangen, Germany product went toe-to-toe with his teammate Mikulic in the MACU record books, recording eight assists in his own right.
In goal, Piedmont, Oklahoma native Parker's 0.9 goals against average and 13 shutouts set new program goalkeeping records while his .753 save percentage moved into the team's fifth-best single season mark.
While both the Sooner Athletic Conference regular season and championships have been moved to the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic with dates to be determined, the Evangels will still compete in eight non-conference games during the fall, four of which will be against SAC rivals.
Mid-America Christian will officially open the season at home on Saturday, Sept. 19 with a 3:30 p.m. match against Bacone College.
