OKLAHOMA CITY – After being held scoreless in the first half, the No. 2 Mid-America Christian men's soccer team made some strong second half adjustments, scoring three second half goals and outshooting Wayland Baptist 14-5 in the period to pull out a 3-0 victory at the Dill Soccer Field on Tuesday night.
SCORING SUMMARY
- 2nd Half – MACU – 51:58 – Goal: Cesar Ramirez (3) – MACU 1, WBU 0
- 2nd Half – MACU – 65:42 – Goal: Ricardo Ferreira (4) – MACU 2, WBU 0
- 2nd Half – MACU – 88:44 – Goal: Diego Real (1) – MACU 3, WBU 0
MATCH SUMMARY
- Wayland Baptist was the aggressor in the early portions of the first half. In the fourth minute, Jeremi Abonnel was able to stop a fourth minute free kick from 25 yards out on the left side before coming up with a diving stop headed toward the right post by Santiago Sanchez off a corner kick.
- Neither team was able to get another attempt on-goal for the remainder of the half as the match went into the break scoreless.
- In the 52nd minute, the Evangels were finally able to strike. After Ridwane Boukraa drew a yellow card foul against Danijel Bozic, Cesar Ramirez lofted a free kick from 40-yards out into the box that glanced off the head of a Wayland player and in toward the right post, making it a 1-0 Evangels lead.
- In the 66th minute, Mid-America Christian narrowly missed adding their second goal when Rodrigo Ferreira's free kick from 40 yards out on the left side found Mason Gonzalez, but his volley shot attempt over the keeper was punched out for a corner kick.
- Just moments later, MACU looked like it had another opportunity robbed when a hand ball was missed on Ricardo Sepulveda's attempt near the top of the 18-yard box, but the ball fortuitously caromed to Ricardo Ferreira on the left side of the box as he rifled a 20-yarder toward the right post for a score, making it a 2-nil game.
- Ramirez just missed out on an opportunity on his second goal of the game when the Evangels won the ball back near midfield. As Gonzalez broke toward the left post, he crossed it to Ramirez wide open on the right side, but WBU goalkeeper Adriano Coppelecchia made a strong sliding save to keep it to a two-goal match.
- With just under 1:30 to go, MACU capped off the scoring as Diego Real was able to tackle the ball away from a defender before rifling a 25-yarder from the right side to the lower left portion of the net, sealing the 3-0 win.
MATCH NOTES
- Mid-America Christian outshot Wayland Baptist by a 19-12 margin, but were especially dominant in the second half with a 14-5 edge over the final 45 minutes.
- Both teams struggled to muster attempts on-goal as MACU held a 7-4 edge in on-target attempts.
- The opening goal by Cesar Ramirez was his third goal of the season and with it being the game-winner, it marked his fifth career winner, moving him into a tie with Allan Sorato and Simon Van Rheeden for the fourth-most game-winning goals for MACU in the NAIA Era (2007-present).
- Ricardo Ferreira's fourth goal of the season moved him back into second on the team in total points with nine on the season.
- The 89th minute score from Diego Real marked his first collegiate goal.
- MACU goalkeeper Jeremi Abonnel recorded his eighth shutout of the season, moving back into a tie for the second-most shutouts in the NAIA this season. Abonnel tallied four saves, tying the second-most in a match this season.
- Mid-America Christian took a 9-8 lead in the all-time series after pitching its sixth straight win against the Pioneers.
UP NEXT
- Mid-America Christian will be back on its home turf on Saturday night as the Evangels host Central Christian. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. at the Dill Soccer Field.
