OKLAHOMA CITY – For the second time in three days, graduate student forward
Rodrigo Albuquerque came up clutch as his volley shot goal in the 80
th minute gave the No. 2 MACU men's soccer team the lead as the Evangels defeated No. 17 Oklahoma Wesleyan 2-0 in the NAIA Tournament Second Round match at the Dill Soccer Field on Saturday night to advance to the NAIA National Championship final site.
SCORING SUMMARY
- 2nd Half – MACU – 79:15 – Goal: Rodrigo Albuquerque (14), Assist: Rodrigo Ferreira – MACU 1, OKWU 0
- 2nd Half – MACU – 86:55 – Goal: Francois Geris-Rey (1), Assist: Ricardo Ferreira – MACU 2, OKWU 0
MATCH SUMMARY
- Both teams struggled to find their footing in the early going, but Mid-America Christian would get the first chance in the ninth minute. After Luan Cesar was shoved down to the ground by an OKWU defender, Bruno Sperandio was set up for a free kick from 35-yards out near the left sideline. Sperandio lofted his free kick toward the top right corner, but OKWU goalkeeper Ilija Catic made a stellar leaping save to push the ball out the end line for an Evangels corner.
- Oklahoma Wesleyan put a pair of shots on-frame in the 24th and 26th minutes, but Abonnel was able to make an easy snare on Stefan Cvetanovic's blast from 35-yards out toward the top right corner before making a fantastic diving save on Cvetanovic's later attempt toward the left post from 24-yards away to keep it a scoreless game.
- Mid-America Christian's next best chance came in the 29th minute when Diego Real dribbled around one defender and then through three collapsing on the left side of the box, but Catic made a sliding kick-save on his eight-yard attempt toward the lower left post to ultimately allow the game to go into the half scoreless.
- The Eagles held the momentum through most of the second half as Oklahoma Wesleyan forced three shots, but none were able to find the mark as the Evangels were held to without a shot for the first 32 minutes before Edward Alderson headed a shot wide left off a MACU corner in the 78th minute.
- In the 79th minute, Mid-America Christian was able to gain the lead off one of the most incredible plays of Rodrigo Albuquerque's historic MACU career. On the lead-up, Albuquerque dribbling toward the left side dished it to the top of the box for Rodrigo Ferreira, who then floated a pass back in toward the right post for Albuquerque breaking in. After chesting the pass down, Albuquerque spun around and rifled a 10-yard half-volley shot into the top left side before Catic could react to make it a 1-0 MACU lead.
- Three minutes later, Oklahoma Wesleyan was blessed with a golden opportunity to find the equalizer when an errant Sperandio pass ended up to the foot of William Rodrigues, who lined a pass for Cvetanovic breaking down the left side. After crossing into the 18-yard box, Cvetanovic was tripped up by Alderson, creating a penalty kick opportunity for the Eagles with 7:35 remaining.
- On the PK attempt from Matheus Ferreira, Abonnel made the biggest save of his MACU career as Ferreira's attempt toward the right post was batted away by Abonnel's extended right hand and pushed out for an Eagles corner, keeping it to a 1-nil MACU advantage.
- The Evangels got some much needed insurance with 3:05 left to go. After Williams shouldered a deep send by OKWU away for the run of Francois Geris-Rey, the midfielder relayed a deep pass toward Ricardo Ferreira breaking down the right sideline. Ferreira then held up play and relayed the pass back toward Geris-Rey near the top of the box before taking a dribble to his right and rifling a cross-field shot that pinged off the inside of the left post and into the back of the net to swell the score to 2-0.
MATCH NOTES
- For the first time this season, Mid-America Christian was out-shot in a game as Oklahoma Wesleyan held a 12-8 shooting margin, but the Evangels were more effective in placing their shots on-target as MACU held a 5-4 edge in shots on-goal.
- After scoring a pair of goals in the win over Bellevue on Thursday, Rodrigo Albuquerque added one more game-winner for good measure in the victory over Oklahoma Wesleyan as his go-ahead score was his team-leading 14th of the season and the fourth-game winner of the year.
- The score for Francois Geris-Rey marked the first of his MACU career.
- The two assists for Ricardo Ferreira and Rodrigo Ferreira on MACU's two goals were each their fourth of the season. As a result, both players climbed up MACU's all-time assist record book as Rodrigo Ferreira moved into a tie for fourth with Willy Deleon (15) while Ricardo Ferreira moved into a tie for eighth with Pero Mikulic (11).
- Jeremi Abonnel and Sven van den Oever earned a combined shutout for MACU's 15th clean sheet of the season. Abonnel made four saves over 86:55 before being ejected on a red card. Van den Oever relieved Abonnel and was able to hold the fort to complete the shutout.
- Facing the fifth-best scoring offense in the NAIA, the Evangels defense frustrated Oklahoma Wesleyan as MACU became just the fourth team this season to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard.
- The victory marked the third time in the last five years that Mid-America Christian advanced out of opening round play to the NAIA National Championship final site. The last time MACU advanced out of the Second Round came on Mandela Singh-Sharpe's golden goal in the 109th minute of double overtime to come away with a 3-2 victory over Bethel (Tenn.) on Apr. 24, 2021.
- Reviving a rivalry that hadn't been played in 12 years, the Evangels moved to 4-3 all-time against Oklahoma Wesleyan as MACU avenged a loss to the Eagles in the NCCAA Central Region Championship on the exact date 12 years ago. However, MACU continued to have success against OKWU on its home pitch as the Evangels are now 4-0 all-time against the Eagles at home.
- By getting the win, Mid-America Christian improved to 19-1-2 on the season while Oklahoma Wesleyan saw its season end with a 14-6-3 record.
UP NEXT
- Owning the top seed at the national site, Mid-America Christian will now travel to Decatur, Ala. to compete for the NAIA National Championship at the Jack Allen Soccer Complex. The Evangels will face the winner of the opening round match between No. 10 William Carey (Miss.) and No. 20 Rio Grande (Ohio) for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Dec. 1.
