MCKENZIE, Tenn. – The No. 17 Mid-America Christian men's soccer team pulled out a thrilling victory in its NAIA Opening Round match against No. 14 Morningside (Iowa) at Wildcat Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
Trailing by one, Mason Gonzalez headed in the game-tying goal with 1:22 remaining to tie it up 2-2 in regulation before the Evangels were able to win their second straight match by a 4-2 score in the postgame shootout to advance to second round.
Mid-America Christian (14-3-3) looked like it had its season in-doubt after Morningside (15-3-2) scored a pair of early goals in the second half, the first coming from Austin Lingle in the 50th minute and then Victor Beker in the 59th minute to take a 2-1 advantage.
The Evangels had several golden opportunities to tie, the first coming off the foot of Gonzalez on a breakaway down the right side with just over 20 minutes left, but put 15-yard shot from the right side just high of the goal.
Hector Valles had a great chance for the Evangels with just under 11 minutes to go off of a throw-in from 32-yards out, but his rocket shot from the left side just barely sailed wide of the top right corner of the net.
Seven minutes later, Rodrigo Albuquerque had a crack at scoring his second goal of the match when Cesar Ramirez received a ball on the left side before breaking into the box, sending a left-footed cross to Albuquerque on the right side. However, Albuquerque sent his header just wide of the right post with 3:47 on the clock.
With just under two minutes to go, the Evangels finally got their equalizer off a quick counter. On the game-tying play, Fabian Forisch delivered a pass to Ramirez on the top right corner of the goal box, he dribbled up and sent a beautiful cross to the middle of the six-yard marker, finding the head of Gonzalez and slipping the shot just inside the left-post with 1:22 remaining.
In the first overtime period, MACU had the best chance at an equalizer as a breakaway found the foot of Luan Cesar, but Morningside goalkeeper Bjarne Huth made a phenomenal diving save toward the right post with 1:43 left.
The Mustangs had the only opportunity in the second overtime period. Off a set piece from 30 yards out, the free kick came toward the right side of the 8-yard box, but Olkan Golge sent the header high as Juan Cediel came out to contest, forcing the game to end in a 2-2 tie and forcing a shootout to decide the advancing team.
Much like the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship match, the Evangels led off with Cesar, who took a slow approach and getting the MC goalkeeper to dive to the left side before firing it in toward the lower right post to give MACU the 1-0 advantage.
On Morningside's first attempt, Golge took aim toward the lower left post, but Cediel made a phenomenal diving save to keep the advantage in the Evangels' favor.
Once again, it was Dejue Johnson taking MACU's second penalty kick and just like his SAC Championship attempt, delivered a strong left-footed shot just inside the left post to stretch the MACU edge to 2-nil.
Cediel made a strong read on Moritz Lusch attempting Morningside's second shot, but was able to power the shot just underneath the arm of the Evangels' keeper to cut it to 2-1.
Gonzalez, who came up clutch for MACU in the final minutes of regulation attempted MACU's third shot and was able to get an open look toward the left side, but his kick spun just wide of the left post, keeping the MACU edge to just one.
Maximillian Hartmann was next up for the Mustangs, but Cediel came up clutch once again for Mid-America Christian. Getting a strong read on Hartmann's shot toward the right post, Cediel dove and just got a piece of the ball and deflected it just enough to redirect the shot off the right post to keep it to a one-goal lead.
Albuquerque came on to take MACU's fourth attempt as he aimed a rocket shot toward the middle of the crossbar. It pinged off the bottom section of the bar and dramatically fell in toward the back of the net to stretch the lead to 3-1.
Lingle took the Mustangs' fourth shot, as he placed a well-aimed attempt just inside the right post out of the diving reach of Cediel to cut it back to one heading into the final shot.
It then came down to Mandela Singh-Sharpe on the match-deciding penalty kick as the Canadian midfielder powered a shot inside the left post to seal the 4-2 victory in the shootout to propel the Evangels to the second round.
While the second half on was full of dramatics, it was the Evangels that had all of the momentum in the first half. In the 13th minute, Ramirez found Albuquerque on the right side from 30-yards out, but he was able to dribble around a defender and fire a 20-yard blast from the right to just inside the left post to give the Evangels a 1-nil advantage.
Mid-America Christian had a fantastic opportunity to add some insurance with just over 26 minutes remaining in the first half when Fabian Forisch found Albuquerque breaking toward the middle of the box, but Huth made three straight stellar saves on Albuquerque's first attempt, Cesar's rebound shot and then again on Forisch's rebounded attempt to keep it to a 1-0 game heading into the halftime break.
While the Evangels were able to outshoot Morningside 17-12 for the contest, the two teams were relatively even in their attempts on goal with 10 of MACU's shots finding its target while nine of the Mustangs' shots landing on-goal. Albuquerque led the offensive efforts with five shots, two on-goal while Cesar turned in four shots with three finding the frame.
Sven van den Oever made a pair of saves in 15 minutes of action before needing to leave the field due to injury. Cediel off the bench recorded five saves over 95 minutes of play while conceding the two second half goals.
In just their second trip to the NAIA Tournament, the Evangels will once again advance to the second round. A season removed from the tourney, Mid-America Christian faced Kansas Wesleyan in the NAIA Opening Round on Nov. 17, 2018 in its first trip, defeating the Coyotes 2-1 to advance to the main bracket played in Irvine, Calif. on Nov. 27, 2018.
With an expanded field, Mid-America Christian will need pick up one more win in opening round play to advance to the national meet in Columbia County, Ga. from May 4-10. The Evangels will face top-seeded and nationally eighth-ranked Bethel (Tenn.) on Saturday, Apr. 24 at 2 p.m. for the right to advance to the final 10-team tourney.
