BETHANY, Okla. – The No. 4 Mid-America Christian men's soccer team battled through some second half adversity, but a 56^th minute score by Fabian Forisch would be all the Evangels would need as MACU held off Southwestern Christian for a 1-0 victory on Tuesday for the team's first win at Cagle Field since 2012.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• Second Half
  • MACU – 55:10 – Goal: Fabian Forisch (3), Assist: Rodrigo Albuquerque – MACU 1, SCU 0

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Southwestern Christian controlled the pace in the first half, outshooting the Evangels by a 10-7 margin and a 3-2 edge in shots on-goal, but Jeremi Abonnel was able to make three strong saves in the half to keep the match scoreless heading into the halftime break.
• Second Half
  • The Evangels were able to take advantage of their first opportunity on-goal in the second half when Rodrigo Albuquerque initially had his cross from the left side of the 18-yard box deflected off a defender. However, Albuquerque made a heads-up play when he headed the deflected cross back in toward the six-yard goal box, finding the foot of a wide open Fabian Forisch for what would be the game-winning goal.
  • Mid-America Christian needed to overcome a challenging situation in the 67^th minute when Luan Cesar was issued a red card, forcing the Evangels to play with just 10 men on the field for the final 23:33 of the match.
  • Despite playing down a man, the Mid-America Christian defense rose to the challenge, forcing the Eagles to make several turnovers in the possession and only allowed SCU to take one shot over the final 24 minutes. The Evangels were also able to muster a few quick counters, getting shots on-goal from Ricardo Ferreira and Cesar Ramirez during that stretch.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian managed to outshoot Southwestern Christian by a 16-14 margin and held a 6-4 edge in shots on-goal.
• Fabian Forisch netted his second game-winning goal in the last three matches after tallying a pair against Oklahoma City last week.
• With his assist, Rodrigo Albuquerque recorded a point for a seventh straight match, increasing his team lead to 24 on the season.
• Freshman goalkeeper Jeremi Abonnel was able to get his first career shutout with the Evangels, tying a career-high four saves to maintain the clean sheet.
• Mid-America Christian won its first match at Cagle Field since Sept. 20, 2012, as the Evangels got a pair of goals from Raphael Bonelle and Duncan Mbugua to come away with a 3-2 victory.
• Mid-America Christian improved to 11-0 overall on the season and remained one of two teams in the Sooner Athletic Conference without a loss in league play while Southwestern Christian dropped to 6-3-1 overall and 0-1-1 in SAC competition.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will prepare to host a pivotal Sooner Athletic Conference matchup on Saturday, Oct. 9 as the Evangels will take on No. 22 Science & Arts for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at the Mike & Helen Dill Soccer Field.