OKLAHOMA CITY – By pulling out a thrilling 3-0 victory over eighth-seeded Central Christian in a postgame shootout at Evangel Field on Friday night, the No. 2 seed and nationally 22nd-ranked Mid-America Christian men's soccer team secured its second Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Championship victory in the last three seasons.
After playing to a scoreless draw after 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods, the Evangels and Tigers needed to settle the league title in a penalty kick shootout.
MACU junior midfielder Luan Cesar led off the shootout by juking the keeper Sebastian Herrera toward leaping toward the left side before firing toward the lower right post give the Evangels the 1-0 edge.
The first Tigers player to take the penalty kick was Mattias Nunez, who tried to aim toward the right post, but MACU goalkeeper Sven van den Oever read the shot perfectly and made a diving save to push the ball out toward the right end line, keeping the Tigers off the board.
Dejue Johnson took MACU's second shot in PK's, as he just barely slid his attempt in-between the left post and Herrera's outstretched hand, stretching the MACU advantage to 2-0.
Conrado Quesada Perez attempted CCC's second shot to try to cut into MACU's two-goal edge, but as he tried to power it to the top left corner, Perez instead pushed it over the crossbar to put Central Christian at a heavy disadvantage.
Mason Gonzalez lined up for the third MACU PK and was able to convert the clutch kick by slipping it inside the lower left post, pushing the advantage to 3-0 and putting MACU to just one stop away from clinching the championship victory.
It then came down to Ismael Valverde Karduchi to keep the Tigers' slim hopes alive, but his right-footed attempt toward the lower left post was pushed out by van den Oever, making his second great diving save in the shootout to seal the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship win.
Even though it is the two teams played to a scoreless draw, Mid-America Christian dominated the match from start to finish, outshooting Central Christian by a 36-3 margin, including an 11-0 edge in shots on-goal.
Rodrigo Albuquerque led the MACU attack with eight shots, putting two on-goal while Endri Copa finished with a team-high three shots on-frame out of his seven attempts in the contest.
While the Evangels controlled the possession, MACU struggled to put accurate shots on-target through the gusty 30-40 mph winds that challenged both teams in the passing and shooting efforts.
Mid-America Christian's best chance to win it in regulation came with just over 12 minutes left to play in the second half when Cesar Ramirez found Dante Luz breaking toward the left post as he placed an accurate cross from the right side, but Luz forced his shot just inches high of the crossbar to keep the match scoreless.
The last time the Evangels played for the conference title, they also needed penalty kicks against second-seeded, No. 20 Science & Arts of Oklahoma, pulling out a 5-3 victory in the shootout on Nov. 9, 2018 after playing to a 1-all draw after 110 minutes.
By getting the win, Mid-America Christian will now have an automatic berth to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Championship Tournament. The selection for NAIA men's soccer tourney will take place on Monday, Apr. 19 at 12 p.m. CST and the opening rounds will be played from Apr. 22-24.
