KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After being picked to win the Sooner Athletic Conference last week, the Mid-America Christian men's soccer team will look to pick up right where it left off in the spring as the Evangels were selected ninth in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Preseason Poll on Wednesday.
It is MACU's highest ever position in the preseason ranking since the program joined the association in 2008, after closing out the split 2020-21 campaign with its highest ranking in the postseason poll, also amassing a No. 9 finish.
Mid-America Christian returns a star-studded lineup that won just the program's second ever Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament title. After the SAC and NAIA Championships were moved to the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Evangels went on a dominant run in the conference tourney, picking up a 6-0 victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State on Apr. 2 in the quarterfinals and a 3-1 win over Science & Arts in the semifinal round on Apr. 6.
Despite the Evangels also dominating Central Christian in the championship match on Apr. 9, outshooting the Tigers 36-3, including an 11-0 edge in shots on-goal, the two teams remained scoreless after 110 minutes of play, forcing a postgame shootout. In PK's, the Evangels got a stellar performance from sophomore goalkeeper Sven van den Oever, as he made a pair of saves while Luan Cesar, Dejue Johnson and Mason Gonzalez converted on their attempts to complete the 3-0 win and secure the SAC title.
Mid-America Christian, competing in just its second NAIA National Championship Opening Round, including the second in the last three seasons, pulled out a pair of thrilling victories. Against No. 17 Morningside (Iowa) on Apr. 22, Gonzalez headed in the game-tying goal with just under two minutes remaining to force another penalty kick shootout following a 2-2 draw. In the shootout, backup goalkeeper Juan Cediel tallied a pair of stellar saves while Cesar, Johnson, Rodrigo Albuquerque put through their attempts before Mandela Singh-Sharpe sealed it on his boot through the left post to secure the 4-2 win.
In the following match against Bethel (Tenn.) in the NAIA Opening Round Championship on Apr. 24, the Evangels appeared to be on-pace for another postgame shootout as the match was tied 2-2 late in the second overtime when Singh-Sharpe came up clutch once again by firing in the golden goal from 27 yards out in the 109th minute to send the Evangels to the NAIA National Championships final site.
Under first year head coach Danny Frid, who was promoted after serving the last two seasons as the team's head assistant coach, the Evangels will be headlined by the Sooner Athletic Conference Co-Offensive Player of the Year in Albuquerque and the SAC Defensive Player of the Year in Johnson as both players also garnered NCCAA DI All-America First Team and NAIA All-America Honorable Mention accolades.
MACU also returns multiple All-SAC honorees, including Gonzalez, Cesar and Endri Copa, former NCCAA All-Americans in Van den Oever, Fabian Forisch and Simon Wieschemann, as well as several players that stepped up late in the season, including Singh-Sharpe, Cesar Ramirez, Dante Luz and Adrian Heinle.
Mid-America Christian will start off the season with three scrimmages against Cowley College (Aug. 16), Oklahoma Christian (Aug. 21) and Rogers State (Aug. 23) before officially kicking off the season with a high-profile match against Hastings (Neb.), a team that competed in the NAIA Opening Round and is receiving votes in the NAIA Preseason Poll. That match is slated for a 3 p.m. kickoff at Evangel Field on Friday, Aug. 27.
