OKLAHOMA CITY – In a battle of two teams that qualified for the NAIA National Championship Tournament last season, the No. 8 Mid-America Christian men's soccer team dominated from kick-off to buzzer in its Friday night matchup at the Dill Soccer Field with McPherson.
Rodrigo Albuquerque netted his 50
th career goal for MACU in leading the Evangels to a 5-0 victory over the Bulldogs.
SCORING SUMMARY
MATCH SUMMARY
- Rodrigo Albuquerque got a stellar early chance in the 10th minute of the first half when he knocked down a clear and fired a 22-yard blast toward net, but McPherson keeper Colby Swift made a strong diving save to his right to keep MACU off the board.
- The Evangels broke into the scoring column just seven minutes later when the Bulldogs were called for a handball inside the 18-yard box, setting up a penalty kick for Albuquerque. The graduate student forward easily put in the game-winner inside the right post to make it a 1-nil contest.
- McPherson's best opportunity of the half came just moments later when Saul Gomez rifled a shot from 16-yards out that just deflected off the top left side of the crossbar and over the MACU goal.
- MACU narrowly missed two golden opportunities when Mason Gonzalez pinged a header off the top right post in the 31st minute before Cesar Ramirez missed a wide-open breakaway opportunity just two minutes later.
- The Evangels finally pushed across their second goal with a little help from the McPherson defense. With just over five minutes to go until halftime, Luan Cesar dribbled through five defenders in the box on the left side before firing a cross toward the right post that deflected off the shin of the defender and into the right side of the net, bringing the score to 2-0 at the half.
- On MACU's first opportunity in the second half, Jack Price put a well-placed corner from the right side onto the head of Gonzalez, who this time knocked it through the lower left side for his first goal of the season and extending the edge to 3-nil at the 47th minute.
- In the 58th minute, Price notched his second assist of the match when he placed an excellent free kick into the left side of the box, finding the head of Kareem Williams. The junior defender knocked his header toward the right post, out of the reach of the keeper, making it a 4-0 contest.
- McPherson's best chance at a score came in the 60th minute when Lucas Williams bashed a header off the middle of the crossbar, the second time the Bulldogs hit the bar on the night.
- Rounding out the MACU scoring in the 79th minute, Georg Westerlund netted his first goal of the season when Cesar Ramirez delivered a beautiful free kick ball toward the left side of the box, finding the head of Alex Tan. The sophomore forward bashed it toward Westerlund breaking on the right side of the goal, blasting a four-yard shot that deflected off the keeper and into the back of the net.
MATCH NOTES
- For the second straight match, MACU dominated the possession, outshooting McPherson by a 24-4 margin with a 12-2 edge in shots on-goal.
- Rodrigo Albuquerque's penalty-kick score already marked his third goal of the season and became the first player in program history to score 50 career goals at Mid-America Christian.
- Three different Evangels scored their first goals of the season in Mason Gonzalez, Kareem Williams and Georg Westerlund.
- Jack Price tallied a pair of points with his first two assists of the season. Cesar Ramirez and Alex Tan recorded the other two of the four MACU assists.
- Mid-America Christian moved to 5-2 all-time against McPherson, bouncing back from a 1-0 loss to the Bulldogs in McPherson on Aug. 27, 2016. However, the Evangels also picked up a 5-0 victory over MC at the Dill Soccer Field on Sept. 19, 2015, improving to 3-0 over the Bulldogs in their home venue.
- The shutout victory marked the sixth straight clean slate for the Evangels on their home field since defeating Southwestern Assemblies of God 4-0 on Oct. 30, 2021.
- Sophomore goalkeeper Jeremi Abonnel notched a pair of saves to record his 21st career victory and his sixth career shutout. The victory allowed him to surpass Austen Parker as the program's second-winningest goalkeeper.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will now prepare for its first road match of the season as the Evangels will head to Wichita, Kan. for a 7:30 p.m. matchup at Friends on Tuesday, Aug. 30.
