OKLAHOMA CITY – The seventh-ranked Mid-America Christian men's soccer team was able to pick up its second straight victory against a ranked opponent, but this time skipped the dramatics as the Evangels scored four second-half goals to pull away with a 5-1 victory in a late Saturday night finish.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• First Half
  • MACU – 36:52 – Goal: Rodrigo Albuquerque (3), Assists: Dante Luz, Jack Price – MACU 1, LC 0
• Second Half
  • MACU – 49:18 – Goal: Ricardo Ferreira (4), Assist: Rodrigo Albuquerque – MACU 2, LC 0
  • MACU – 53:52 – Goal: Ricardo Ferreira (5), Assist: Cesar Ramirez – MACU 3, LC 0
  • MACU – 63:18 – Goal: Rodrigo Albuquerque (4), Assist: Adrian Heinle – MACU 4, LC 0
  • MACU – 63:57 – Goal: Adrian Heinle (1) – MACU 5, LC 0
  • LC – 87:14 – Goal: Marcos Fernandez (2), Assist: Oscar Rosas – MACU 5, LC 1

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian dominated the possession in the first half, but were finally able to break through in the 37^th minute. On the play, junior midfielder Jack Price seeing his first action of the season delivered a well-placed through ball to the right side of the box for Dante Luz, who then found Rodrigo Albuquerque breaking toward the middle. From 14 yards out, the senior forward was able to skid a shot through to the lower left post to make a 1-nil MACU lead at halftime.
• Second Half
  • The Evangels scored early and often in the second half. In the 49^th minute, Albuquerque dribbled through the defense just past midfield before having a bit of a give-and-go with freshman forward Ricardo Ferreira. Albuquerque continued to dribble through the defense before launching a pass toward the left side of the box for Ferreira, who rifled a shot just above the keeper into the back of the net to bring it to a 2-0 game.
  • Five minutes later, Ferreira delivered again for his second goal of the contest. On a quick counter, senior mid Cesar Ramirez was able to dribble all the way down the left side into the 18-yard box, splitting a pair of defenders. Just when it looked like a defender was going to be able to clear, Ramirez blocked the outlet with his body and dished it to a wide open Ferreira on the right side of the box, rifling a 10-yarder into the top left corner to extend the MACU advantage to three.
  • In the 63^rd minute, Albuquerque netted his second goal of the contest when he was able to track sophomore forward Adrian Heinle on the left side of the box. The speedy forward was able to dribble around the defense and return a pass to Albuquerque on the right side of the box, tapping an uncontested shot through to the right post to extend the MACU edge to 4-nil.
  • Just moments later, Heinle was able to crack into the scoring column for the first time this season. Scots defenseman Warren Simpson tapped a lazy pass across the 18-yard box that was intercepted by Heinle making a great break on the ball and rifled a wide open 14-yard shot into the top right side, capping the MACU scoring at 5-0.
  • The Scots only scoring play of the contest came in the 87^th minute, when Lyon dispossessed the Evangels and sent the ball on the run for Oscar Rosas. The Scots mid dribbled back toward midfield before finding Marcos Fernandez, subsequently firing an 18-yard shot from the left side that pinged off the crossbar and into the back of the net to wrap up the 5-1 final.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian dominated the possession, outshooting Lyon by a 17-6 margin and an 11-2 edge in shots on-goal.
• Rodrigo Albuquerque led the Evangels offense with his second straight multi-goal match and five-point effort after getting the assist on Ricardo Ferreira's game-winner. It was the fifth five-point game of the Recife, Brazil product's career, the last coming in a 9-0 victory over Southwestern Assemblies of God on Feb. 23.
• Ricardo Ferreira turned in the first multi-goal match, which included his first game-winner of his MACU career and extended his goal count to five on the season, leading the Evangels in the scoring department.
• With the assist on Ferreira's second goal of the match, Cesar Ramirez extended his MACU assist lead to four on the year, ranking in a tie for ninth in the NAIA.
• The Evangels picked up their first ever win against Scots in three tries, but hadn't played Lyon since the 2009 season.
• MACU notched its second consecutive victory against a team ranked in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll after rallying from two goals down at halftime to pick up a 3-2 victory at No. 16 Georgia Gwinnett on Labor Day.
• By improving to 5-0, the Evangels matched their best start to a season in program history with the 2017 squad.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will get the opportunity to surpass the 2017 squad for the best start ever when it hosts Sterling (Kan.) on Tuesday. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. at the Mike and Helen Dill Soccer Field.