LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – The No. 9 Mid-America Christian men's soccer team made a comeback for the ages in the final day of the Labor Day Grizzly Classic, rallying from two goals down at halftime to come away with the 3-2 victory over No. 16 Georgia Gwinnett at the Grizzly Soccer Complex on Monday.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• First Half
  • GGC – 22:55 – Goal: Ivano Carreiri (1) – GGC 1, MACU 0
  • GGC – 24:45 – Goal: Jack Brown (1) – GGC 2, MACU 0
• Second Half
  • MACU – 56:57 – Goal: Rodrigo Albuquerque (1) – GGC 2, MACU 1
  • MACU – 57:56 – Goal: Ricardo Ferreira (3), Assist: Eugenio Garcia Guerra – MACU 2, GGC 2
  • MACU – 86:35 – Goal: Rodrigo Albuquerque (2), Assist: Ricardo Ferreira – MACU 3, GGC 2

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Georgia Gwinnett was able to capture the early momentum by scoring a pair of goals within a two-minute stretch. After a Grizzlies corner was headed away by a MACU defender, GGC's Ivano Carrieri rifled an open shot toward the right post to grab the 1-0 edge in the 23^rd minute.
  • The Grizzlies' second goal came off the foot of Jack Brown as the Evangels had difficulties clearing the ball with 24:45 remaining, making it a 2-nil contest.
• Second Half
  • Rodrigo Albuquerque had MACU's first chance at a game-tying attempt before GGC goalkeeper Matthew Wallace. The Grizzlies also were able to force a pair of shots on-goal in the 56^th and 57^th minutes but MACU freshman goalkeeper Jeremi Abonnel made a pair of solid saves to keep Georgia Gwinnett from growing its lead.
  • Later in the 57^th minute, Mid-America Christian was finally able to capitalize when Albuquerque was able to knock down a loose ball on the right side of the box and rifled in a shot past the keeper for his first goal of the 2021 season.
  • It took less than a minute for MACU to find the equalizer as Eugenio Garcia Guerra was able to find Ricardo Ferreira on the right side and he fired in the game-tying goal in the 58^th minute to bring it even 2-2.
  • Things got chippy in the 68^th minute when GGC's Khaled Qasum committed a hard foul on Mason Gonzalez, leading to a scrum that led to Qasum being escorted off on a red card and forcing the Grizzlies to play down a man.
  • Despite being shorthanded, Georgia Gwinnett had a good chance at a go-ahead goal when Brown broke away and had a great look at scoring his second goal of the match, but Abonnel made a phenomenal play by crashing on Brown at the point of attack and sliding in to make an incredible save, keeping it tied at 2-2 with 7:15 remaining.
  • With just over three minutes left, MACU was able to find the game-winner when a deep ball was sent on the break for Ricardo Ferreira and Albuquerque breaking down the right side. As the GGC keeper tried to crash at the point of attack, Ferreira slipped a pass to Albuquerque running stride-for-stride down the right side, tapping the ball into the open net to secure the 3-2 advantage.
  • Mid-America Christian did not allow another opportunity for Georgia Gwinnett over the final three-and-a-half minutes as the Evangels secured the victory.

MATCH NOTES

• Despite getting outshot 4-1 in the first half, Mid-America Christian dominated the second half, outshooting Georgia Gwinnett 9-4 to hold a 10-8 edge in shots for the contest with the two teams being even at 4-4 in shots on-goal.
• Senior forward Rodrigo Albuquerque, after leading the team with 17 goals and 10 game-winners a season ago, was finally able to put together a breakout game, tallying his eighth career multi-goal match and his 15^th game-winner. Albuquerque led the offense with three shots, all of which landing on-target.
• By scoring a goal and an assist, Ricardo Ferreira currently leads the team with three goals and a pair of assists for a team-high eight points.
• Freshman goalkeeper Jeremi Abonnel turned in a career-high four saves for his fourth win of the season in-goal.
• Mid-America Christian improved to 2-1-1 in its last four matches against teams ranked in the NAIA Top 25. The Evangels last match against a top 25 team came in a 3-2 victory over No. 8 Bethel (Tenn.) in the NAIA Opening Round on Apr. 24.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be looking to get off to just their second 5-0 start in program history on Saturday as the Evangels will return home for a 7 p.m. kickoff against Lyon at the Mike & Helen Dill Soccer Field.