OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 2 Mid-America Christian men's soccer team controlled the pace from kickoff to buzzer in its second straight Sooner Athletic Conference home match as the Evangels dissected a stellar Central Christian defense for a 3-0 victory at the Dill Soccer Field on Saturday night.
SCORING SUMMARY
MATCH SUMMARY
- Facing a strong Central Christian defense that had only conceded five goals in nine matches coming into the contest, Mid-America Christian held a large portion of the possession through the first 25 minutes, outshooting the Tigers 7-1 but were unable to put any of their early opportunities on-goal.
- At the 26:11 mark, MACU was finally able to find a gap in the Tigers defense when Diego Real crossed the ball over from midfield to Dante Luz open near the right sideline. The senior defenseman launched a stellar cross in the air to Ricardo Ferreira open near the left post as he redirected a header toward the right side of the goal from six-yards out to give MACU 1-0 advantage.
- Both teams had limited chances over the final 18 minutes as MACU held a very slim 2-1 shots advantage in this stretch while the Evangels lone shot on-goal came with only a few seconds left at the end of the half.
- The second half was another tough grinder with neither team getting many opportunities until a golden one came available for the Evangels in the 71st minute. After Luz was trip
- ped up just outside the penalty box from approximately 21 yards out, Rodrigo Ferreira was set up to attempt the free kick. Facing a four-man Tigers wall, Ferreira rifled a shot right of the wall that hooked back toward the right post and just slipped in past the diving keeper Sebastian Herrera to swell the MACU advantage to 2-nil.
- Five minutes later, it was MACU's top goal scorer Rodrigo Albuquerque that added some insurance. Central Christian had a throw-in get headed back toward the graduate student striker on the left side as he dribbled around and past two defenders into the box and slid a shot past Herrera from 12 yards out toward just inside the right post to wrap-up the scoring at 3-0.
TEAM NOTES
- Mid-America Christian closed out the match with 17 shots, the most any team had put up against the Tigers this season. However, the Evangels but did struggle to get attempts on-goal as just four found the target, their second fewest in any match during the 2022 campaign.
- Defensively, MACU challenged a Tigers offense that was averaging 21.8 shots per game coming into the contest, limiting CCCK to only three off-target attempts for the entire match.
- The win marked the Evangels third straight victory by a final score of 3-0 while MACU also notched its sixth straight shutout and its ninth clean sheet of the season.
- Mid-America Christian improved to 9-1-1 against Central Christian since the 2006 season and have yet to suffer a loss to the Tigers since their meeting at the Dill Soccer Field on Aug. 25, 2006.
- Getting credit for his second game-winner of the season, Ricardo Ferreira tied Luan Cesar for the most winners this season and became the second Evangels player to net five or more goals thus far.
- Rodrigo Ferreira's 71st minute score marked the first of his two-year MACU career.
- Rodrigo Albuquerque moved up to seventh in the SAC in goal scoring with his sixth of the year.
- The lone assists for MACU came from Diego Real, who moved into a tie for the team-lead with Jack Price and Uviwe Qasha with four dimes while Dante Luz tallied his first assist of the campaign.
- Mid-America Christian improved to 9-1 overall and 2-0 in Sooner Athletic Conference play with the win while the Tigers dropped to 5-2-3 overall with an 0-1-1 league mark.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will travel to Texas next week for its first Sooner Athletic Conference road match of the season. The Evangels will head to Waxahachie, Texas on Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. match against Southwestern Assemblies of God at Waxahachie High School.
