OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 7 MACU men's soccer team continued its stellar scoring onslaught when it hosted Sterling on Tuesday night, as the Evangels came away with a 5-1 victory for the program to get off to its first ever 6-0 start to a season.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• First Half
  • MACU – 2:47 – Goal: Luan Cesar (3), Assist: Rodrigo Ferreira – MACU 1, SC 0
  • MACU – 9:37 – Goal: Rodrigo Albuquerque (5), Assist: Ricardo Ferreira – MACU 2, SC 0
  • MACU – 34:38 – Goal: Jack Price (1) – MACU 3, SC 0
  • MACU – 40:07 – Goal: Jack Price (2), Assist: Bruno Sperandio – MACU 4, SC 0
• Second Half
  • MACU – 51:33 – Goal: Rodrigo Albuquerque (6), Assist: Cesar Ramirez, Emanuele Grumo – MACU 5, SC 0
  • SC – 53:48 – Goal: Baldemar Martinez (1) – MACU 5, SC 1

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian scored early and often, with the first opportunity coming just 2:47 into the match. On the play, Luan Cesar was able to shield the goalkeeper away from a left side corner kick off the foot of Rodrigo Ferreira before turning around and rifling a shot into the open net to make it a 1-0 MACU lead.
  • The Evangels were able to extend it to two when Luan Cesar muscled a ball away from one defender and ricochet it off another just outside the 18-yard box to Ricardo Ferreira, who was able to deliver a nice pass to Rodrigo Albuquerque. Albuquerque broke down the right side of the box and fired it from 15-yards out to just under the crossbar to extend the edge to 2-nil.
  • With just over 10 minutes remaining, junior midfielder Jack Price netted his first goal as a member of the Evangels when Niccolo Ticozzelli was able to take possession from the Warriors and break down the middle, directing a 19-yard shot toward the right post. Sterling goalkeeper Ferriole Caballe initially made the save, but Price was well positioned to collect the loose ball and launch it into the net before Caballe could react, stretching the MACU advantage to 3-nil.
  • In the 41^st minute, Price added to it with his second goal of the match. On the play, Ticozzelli found Bruno Sperandio camping to the left of the 18-yard box. Sperandio waited for a crash toward the net before putting a well-placed cross toward the right post for Price, who easily slipped it in past the keeper to give MACU the 4-0 lead heading into the half.
• Second Half
  • The Evangels continued to add to their lead early in the second half when the SAC Defensive Player of the Week Emanuele Grumo sent a gorgeous deep ball down the left side for a streaking Cesar Ramirez. Beating the defense, Ramirez was able to find Albuquerque just inside the six-yard box, redirecting the cross to just inside the right post to cap the MACU scoring at 5-0.
  • The only mistake by the MACU defense came in the 54^th minute when MACU keeper Jeremi Abonnel stretched well outside the 18-yard box and had his pass contested and deflected, landing at the foot of Baldemar Martinez, who heaved a 35-yard shot into the wide open MACU goal, giving the Warriors their only score of the match.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian finished the match with 19 shots, putting nine on-target while defensively limiting Sterling to just six shots with three landing on-goal.
• After garnering SAC Offensive Player of the Week and NCCAA Offensive Student-Athlete of the Week, Rodrigo Albuquerque continued to be red-hot in the attack with his third-straight two-goal game, including scoring his second game-winner of the season. After not scoring a goal in the first three matches, Albuquerque has now netted six goals in the last three games.
• Ricardo Ferreira notched his third assist to hold the No. 2 spot on the team in points with 13 so far on the season.
• Cesar Ramirez turned in his team-leading fifth assist of the season, ranking sixth in the NAIA in that category.
• Senior defender Simon Wieschemann saw action in his 77^th match with the Evangels, surpassing Caleb Roldan for the most career matches played in program history.
• Mid-America Christian surpassed the 2017 for the best start to a season in the history of the program as that team started out 5-0 before dropping a 2-1 decision to Houston-Victoria on Sept. 15.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now prepare for one of its biggest matches in program history as the Evangels will head to Wichita, Kan. on Saturday to take on No. 8 Bellevue (Neb.) in a matchup of NAIA Top 10 teams. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. at the Stryker Sports Complex.