OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 1 MACU men's soccer team reached another new height with its thrilling 3-1 win over Science & Arts in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Championship at the Dill Soccer Field on Thursday night as the Evangels became the first program in SAC history to win four-straight league tourney titles.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – MACU – 44:38 – Goal: Yasha Schaerer (5) – MACU 1, USAO 0
• 2^nd Half – USAO – 78:05 – Goal: Callum Shepherd (2) – MACU, USAO 1
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 78:26 – Goal: Kolby Godbolt (8), Assist: Diego Real, Federico Palacios – MACU 2, USAO 1
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 89:57 – Goal: Jack Price (12), Assist: Diego Real, Kolby Godbolt – MACU 3, USAO 1

MATCH SUMMARY

• Science & Arts (9-8-4) was the first team to put a shot on-goal in the match during the 20^th minute when a Justin Croke right-side corner bounced around off multiple headers inside the 18-yard box before eventually winding up at the foot of Angelo Leenderste, who relayed a pass to Callum Shepherd on the right side. Trying to fit it into a tight window, MACU goalkeeper Claudio Fuentealba batted the shot down before clearing it out for an Evangels counter.
• In the 24^th minute, Mid-America Christian (17-0-3) had the first great scoring opportunity when Diego Real corralled a loose ball in the box off a Yasha Schaerer deep free kick, but USAO goalkeeper Angel Diaz made a sensational diving save on his low liner toward the right side, keeping it a scoreless game.
• MACU's next chance on-goal came with four-and-a-half left when Henry Tolbert dished it to Francois Geris-Rey from the left side before the French midfielder rifled a screaming one-hopper that Diaz saved and dove on the loose ball before Jack Price could crash in for the rebound.
• In the final minute, the Evangels found their go-ahead goal in dramatic fashion. After Henry Tolbert was able to get behind two defenders inside the box, the speedy forward was tripped up, setting up a penalty kick opportunity 24 seconds left.
• With Yasha Schaerer stepping to the mark, the freshman mid fired a low liner toward the left post that Diaz successfully saved on the dive. However, the Drovers defenders were not fast enough to crash in as Schaerer collected the rebound and put the one-timer into the open right side to make it a 1-nil MACU lead heading into half.
• At the top of the 79^th minute, the Drovers found an equalizer on a somewhat controversial play. After Mattija Malenovic lofted a deep send from midfield toward the 18-yard box, Fuentealba came to the edge of the box to collect the pass in the air. It appeared Shepherd contacted Fuentealba, somewhat undercutting the keeper as he fell to the ground. With the ball popping out, Shepherd had a wide-open net that he was able to fire into just before Kareem Williams could crash in for the sliding tackle to draw it even at 1-apiece.
• Mid-America Christian had an immediate answer just 25 seconds later. With Kolby Godbolt relaying it to Federico Palacios breaking down the left side, the freshman striker dished it to Real at the top of the 18-yard box, hitting Godbolt in-stride in the left side on the overlap. With a one-on-one with the keeper, the junior defender got Diaz to bite on a low dive before punching in a top-left strike the pinged off the underside of the crossbar and in for the game-winner.
• While the Evangels didn't need the insurance in the waning seconds, MACU relished the opportunity when Godbolt heaved a sensational throw-in down the left side that completely behind the USAO defense playing up to force a turnover. Real ran down the throw before crossing it into Price on the right side, who tapped in the final shot with three seconds left to seal the 3-1 final.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian for the most part controlled the possession, outshooting Science & Arts 15-8 with a 7-3 margin in shots on-goal.
• The score for Yasha Schaerer in the 45^th minute was his fifth goal of his rookie campaign while moving into third on the team in season points with 16 on the year.
• With his fourth game-winning goal, Kolby Godbolt moved into a tie for seventh in MACU's NAIA Era single-season record book for game-winners, sitting in a five-way tie with Gleydson Neri (2015), Simon Van Rheeden (2017) and Rodrigo Albuquerque (2019, 2022).
• Godbolt also became MACU's second 20-point performer on the year with his eighth goal of the season while his assist on Price's finale was his fourth dime of the year.
• Price solidified himself in two NAIA Era single-season positions with his last second goal as his 12^th of the year moved him into a Raphael Bonelle (2015) and Gleydson Neri (2015) while that goal also allowed him to move into 10^th in single season points (28), also supplanting Neri (27) in that category.
• The score for Price was also his 27^th career goal, putting him into a tie with Dominik Tajak (27, 2017-19) for the third-most career scores in the NAIA Era.
• Tallying a pair of assists in the match, Diego Real is climbing up MACU's career record books as well as his last marked the 17^th of his two-year Evangels tenure, placing him third just behind former teammate Cesar Ramirez (18, 2020-22) and Bonelle (16, 2012-15).
• Federico Palacios also added to his season point total with his fifth assist of his freshman campaign, the third-most on the squad.
• Claudio Fuentealba picked up his 15^th win in-goal for the year, improving to 15-0-2 after conceding just one goal and tallying a pair of saves. Despite being in just his fifth season, the 15 victories in-goal is already the fourth-most career keeper wins in the NAIA Era.
• Since the SAC Tournament's inception in 2001, the league has only seen three three-peat champions as MACU's opponent in Science & Arts accomplished the feat twice from 2003-05 and 2013-15, but the Evangels are the first in the league to ever win four consecutive conference tourney titles.
• The Evangels are also just the second team in the league to ever win at least five SAC Tournament Championships with all five coming within the last six seasons.
• Since 2021, Mid-America Christian is undefeated against Science & Arts with a 5-0-2 record against the Drovers in that stretch. Much like the 2022 results, the Evangels were able to shake off a 1-1 regular season draw with a three-goal effort in the SAC Championship match against the Drovers. Last year, MACU came away with the 3-0 victory over Science & Arts in the SAC title match.

UP NEXT

• As a potential No. 1 seed, Mid-America Christian will await to see what this year's NAIA First and Second Round pairings will be as the NAIA Tournament field will be unveiled at 1 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 13. The NAIA First and Second Round games will be played at select campus sites on Nov. 18 and Nov. 20 with MACU being a likely host.