OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 3 Mid-America Christian men's soccer team already had two Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Championships under its belt heading into the match, but on Senior Night at the Mike & Helen Dill Soccer Field on Saturday, the Evangels locked up their first ever SAC regular season title with a 4-0 victory over Southwestern Assemblies of God.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• First Half
  • MACU – 15:39 – Goal: Jack Price (7), Assist: Rodrigo Ferreira – MACU 1, SAGU 0
  • MACU – 39:15 – Goal: Rodrigo Albuquerque (12), Assist: Mandela Singh-Sharpe – MACU 2, SAGU 0
• Second Half
  • MACU – 51:37 – Goal: Rodrigo Albuquerque (13) – MACU 3, SAGU 0
  • MACU – 53:55 – Goal: Mateus Pasquantonio (2), Assist: Jack Price – MACU 4, SAGU 0

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian was able to capitalize on its first opportunity on-goal in the 16^th minute. After a foul was called on SAGU 10-yards outside the 18-yard box from the left side, Rodrigo Ferreira delivered a phenomenal free kick strike to the right side of the six-yard goal box where Jack Price easily tapped in the game-winner to make a 1-nil MACU lead.
  • The Evangels dominated the possession over the remainder of the half, but struggled to find open opportunities until the 40^th minute when Mandela Singh-Sharpe was able to chest down an attempted clearance by the Lions before delivering a beautiful pass through the SAGU defense to Rodrigo Albuquerque breaking into the left side of the 18-yard box. Albuquerque slipped his shot past SAGU keeper Julio Guevara to extend the MACU lead to 2-0 at the halftime break.
• Second Half
  • MACU was once again able to take advantage of its first chance on-goal in the second half. Following a goal kick in the 52^nd minute, Mateus Pasquantonio headed a ball from midfield into the air to Ricardo Ferreira, who pushed it ahead off his head toward Albuquerque breaking into the 18-yard box. Albuquerque dribbled around the keeper and slipped his shot into the right side to extend the Evangels' edge to 3-0.
  • The Evangels added to it just two minutes later when Price took a phenomenal corner kick from the right side that perfectly found Pasquantonio on the left side, heading it in to the left side of the net to stretch it to a 4-0 MACU advantage.
  • Mid-America Christian continued to dominate the possession for the remainder of the half as the Lions were only able to muster one shot on-goal in the final 30 minutes.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian finished the match with 18 shots, putting nine on-target while SAGU was only able to muster five shots with three landing on-goal. The Evangels also dominated when it came to corner kicks, tallying eight for the match while the Lions attempted just two.
• The two goals scored by Rodrigo Albuquerque were his 12^th and 13^th of the season, moving him into a tie for the third-most scored by any player in the Sooner Athletic Conference while the four points tallied boosted his season total to 34, which ranks second in the league.
• Jack Price finished the match with three points off of a goal and assist, boosting his goals total to seven on the year with the assist on Mateus Pasquantonio's goal being his third of the season.
• Pasquantonio's header was his second goal of the year, his first since getting his first score in a 5-1 victory over Friends back on Aug. 31.
• The shutout win was just the second for the Evangels on the season as Jeremi Abonnel and Javier Ceballos split it between the two. Abonnel finished with three saves in 70 minutes of action.
• Prior to the start of the match, Mid-America Christian honored seniors Endri Copa, Dejue Johnson, Simon Wieschemann, Luan Cesar, Mateus Pasquantonio, Mason Gonzalez, Nikola Djuric, Arthur de Souza and Rodrigo Albuquerque.
• With the win, Mid-America Christian has locked up its first ever Sooner Athletic Conference regular season title and secured its first No. 1 seed in the SAC Tournament. The Evangels had previously won the 2018 SAC Tournament and 2020-21 SAC Tournament Championships.
• By going 8-0-1 in league play, the Evangels are the first SAC team to go undefeated in conference play since Wayland Baptist also went 8-0-1 during the 2016 season.

UP NEXT

• The Evangels will open the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament with the quarterfinal round at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4. Mid-America Christian will face the winner of the Central Christian/Oklahoma City match on Tuesday. If the match ends in a draw, the Evangels will be matched up against the Tigers.