WAXAHACHIE, Texas – Graduate student forward
Rodrigo Albuquerque, the most decorated player in the history of the No. 2 MACU men's soccer program added one more accomplishment in his legendary career on Tuesday night as the Recife, Brazil product recorded his first career hat trick, leading the Evangels to a 5-0 victory over Southwestern Assemblies of God at Waxahachie High School.
SCORING SUMMARY
MATCH SUMMARY
- Mid-America Christian was able to force some early opportunities in the first half, but SAGU goalkeeper Jose Ladoriel was able to stop two Evangel shots on-goal in less than a minute from Ricardo Ferreira and Jack Price in the seventh and eighth minutes.
- The Evangels struggled to get much offense going against the Lions through the first 20 minutes before a costly mistake by Ladoriel started the MACU surge. In the 21st minute, Rodrigo Albuquerque relayed a pass to Dante Luz breaking toward the left post, but the Lions keeper tripped Luz going in on the attack, setting up a penalty kick.
- On the ensuing penalty, Albuquerque easily juked Ladoriel to dive left before rifling a shot into the right side of the net make a 1-nil MACU lead.
- In the 26th minute, Albuquerque added to his goal tally as he made a well-executed give-and-go pass with Mason Gonzalez on the right side as Gonzalez delivered a stellar through ball to the breaking forward. Albuquerque slipped his 10-yarder past Ladoriel, who was only able to get a piece of the shot that trickled inside the right post, expanding the Evangels' edge to 2-0.
- A minute later, Albuquerque recorded his first career hat trick. After Cesar Ramirez's long shot from the left side was initially saved by Ladoriel, Albuquerque was able to run down the loose ball in the penalty box and blast the open 8-yarer into the right side to stretch the advantage to 3-nil.
- MACU added one more insurance goal off a deflected shot. In the 41st minute, Ramirez delivered a stellar corner into the box, finding the head of Edward Alderson. While Alderson's shot was initially saved, Kareem Williams cleaned up the play by booting in a 2-yard point-blank range score in the middle to make it a 4-0 game going into half.
- While the Evangels forced some early opportunities in the second half with shots on-goal from Ramirez and Jack Price in the 52nd and 53rd minutes, Ricardo Ferreira continued to add on to his strong scoring season when Sven van den Oever's clearance kick found Diego Real in the midfield, relaying a laser pass to Ramirez breaking down the left side. With Ladoriel trying to stop the play at the point of attack, he was able to get his pass over Ladoriel to Ferreira sprinting toward the right post, placing a wide open four-yarder inside the post to wrap-up the scoring at 5-nil in the 57th minute.
MATCH NOTES
- Mid-America Christian dominated the possession, outshooting Southwestern Assemblies of God by a 23-1 margin and a 14-0 edge in shots on-goal. The one shot the Lions were held to was their fewest in a single match this season.
- Rodrigo Albuquerque led the MACU offense four shots, all of which were on-goal while netting scores on three of his four attempts. With his three-goal outburst, Albuquerque skyrocketed up into a tie for second with John Brown's Jacob Zamarron for the most goals scored in the Sooner Athletic Conference this season.
- Albuquerque's hat trick is the first three-goal effort by an Evangels player since Mason Gonzalez picked up the trick with a trio of goals in his first career game with MACU in a 9-0 victory at SAGU on Feb. 23, 2021.
- With his sixth goal of the season, Ricardo Ferreira also moved into the top 10 of the SAC in goal-scoring as he sits in a tie for ninth.
- The score by Kareem Williams in the 41st minute was his second of the season and the fifth scored by an Evangels defender.
- Diego Real moved into the team's assist lead with his fifth of the season on Ferreira's goal while Cesar Ramirez and Gonzalez tallied their second and first dimes of the year.
- By recording his 10th win of the season in-goal, Jeremi Abonnel surpassed MACU great Tyler McIntosh for the fifth-most goalie wins in a single-season and marked just the fifth double-digit wins season by an Evangels keeper.
- Abonnel and Sven van den Oever earned the combined shutout with each keeper playing a half for MACU. The 10th shutout of the year moved the Evangels into a tie with Corban (Ore.) for the most shutouts by a single team this season.
- The win over the Lions marked MACU's fifth consecutive shutout victory as the Evangels moved to 13-5 in the all-time series.
- By moving to 10-1 on the season, Mid-America Christian has officially earned its sixth straight 10-plus win season. The Evangels improved to 3-0 in Sooner Athletic Conference play while the Lions fell to 1-9 and 0-3 in league play.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian continues its Texas road swing on Saturday as the Evangels will head to Fort Worth, Texas to take on Texas Wesleyan. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Martin Field.
