OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 1 MACU men's soccer team saw its incredible season come to a heartbreaking end on Saturday night at the Dill Soccer Field. After playing Bellevue to a 3-3 draw through regulation and two overtime periods, the Bruins outlasted the Evangels in the postgame penalty kick shootout by a score of 7-6 in the NAIA Tournament Second Round match.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – BU – 29:51 – Goal: Caedmon Schwanke (6), Assist: Giovani Lima Suarez – BU 1, MACU 0
• 1^st Half – MACU – 40:19 – Goal: Henry Tolbert (2) – MACU 1, BU 1
• 1^st Half – BU – 44:56 – Goal: Alvaro Moros Sanz (6), Assist: Gabriel Dias Juliani – BU 2, MACU 1
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 53:11 – Goal: Charlie Betts (7), Assist: Jack Price, Diego Real – MACU 2, BU 2
• 2^nd Half – BU – 56:23 – Goal: Jake Cover (5), Assist: Antonio Capra, Kevin Becerril – BU 3, MACU 2
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 57:11 – Goal: Diego Real (2), Assist: Jack Price – MACU 3, BU 3

MATCH SUMMARY

• Mid-America Christian (17-0-4) had the first great scoring chance of either team in the first half in the 19^th minute when Yasha Schaerer's corner kick was briefly knocked out of the box to Diego Real outside of the box, but the sophomore forward dribbled around one defender before lofting one to Sebastian Rebolledo in the middle of the box, who redirected a header off the crossbar before being cleared by the Bruins.
• Bellevue (13-5-4) found the go-ahead goal in the 30^th minute when Giovani Lima Suarez took a perfectly placed corner kick from the right side into the middle of the 18-yard box as Caedmon Schwanke's header found an open spot in the top right corner for the opening score.
• The Evangels netted their first goal of the contest in the 41^st minute when Real's deep relay toward the right side was headed away by Fletcher Hedge, but Henry Tolbert chested down the clearance in the midfield. Stepping into a 30-yard shot, Tolbert blasted a long shot that just barely got under the crossbar and over the reach of BU goalkeeper Tareek Ganga to draw it even at 1-all.
• Just before the halftime break, Bellevue found another go-ahead goal in the last few seconds when a deep send to Jake Cover was flicked back to Gabriel Dias Juliani. From the right side, Juliani took a long strike toward the right side toward left that Claudio Fuentealba made a sensational diving save on. However, Alvaro Moros Sanz was unchecked for the putback into the left side off the rebound with five seconds left to send the Bruins into the half with the 2-1 advantage.
• MACU evened it back up in the 54^th minute when Jair Estrada intercepted a pass on the right side that he relayed back to Jack Price on the break. Centering it for Real, the sophomore midfielder found Charlie Betts breaking open into the right side of the box, firing a low liner into the bottom right corner to set the score to 2-2.
• The Bruins recaptured the lead for the final time in the 57^th minute when Antonio Capra won a ball in the midfield before tapping a relay quickly to Kevin Becerril, who found Jake Cover wide open on the right side of the box. A one-touch dribble led to a 15-yard blast inside the right post by Cover, making it a 3-2 game.
• It took all but 48 seconds for Mid-America Christian to find the equalizer in the 58^th minute. After Schaerer intercepted a pass into the midfield, the freshman mid found Price on the relay down the right side. Slicing through the Bellevue defense toward the box, his pass found Real at the top of the box, pinpointing a shot into the bottom right corner to set the score to 3-3.
• Both defenses made adjustments through the rest of regulation and two overtime periods, but MACU had a golden opportunity at a similar result to last season when a penalty was called against the Bruins with three seconds left in the second overtime, setting up Price for the potential game-winning PK. However, the senior striker for MACU fired his low liner too wide of the right post, setting up a postgame shootout.
• A drama-filled penalty kick shootout saw the Evangels and Bruins going strike-for-strike, as both teams made their first six PKs. The penalties taken by Schaerer, Francois Geris-Rey, Real, Federico Palacios, Betts and Pietro Musso were all answered by Capra, Soares, Fletcher Hedge, Matias Daniel-Doren, Buster Honeywood and Juliani to square it off at 6-6.
• On MACU's seventh penalty, Kolby Godbolt tried to put a strike into the right side, but BU's Ganga made a great read and a sensational diving save for the first and only failed conversion in the penalty kick shootout.
• With Jose-Miguel Boggio stepping to the spot, he managed to just get it by Claudio Fuentealba, who made the right read but could not quite stop the shot in-time as the Bruins advanced to the NAIA National Championships final site with the 7-6 win in the shootout.

MATCH NOTES

• Despite the heartbreaking result for Mid-America Christian, the Evangels managed to outshoot Bellevue 22-11 with a 10-5 margin in shots on-goal.
• The goals scored in the contest were Henry Tolbert's second, Charlie Betts' seventh and Diego Real's second of the season.
• Overall, Real turned in a three-point game off a goal and an assist while Jack Price tallied a pair of assists in the match while leading MACU's offensive efforts with five shot attempts, three of which were on-goal.
• Playing in his final collegiate match, Price wrapped up a historic three-year MACU career holding multiple top five spots in the program's NAIA Era (2007-present) career record book, including: goals (27, 3^rd), assists (16, 4^th), points (70, 3^rd), shooting percentage (.227, 3^rd), shots on-goal (67, 4^th) and game-winning goals (10, 2^nd).
• Another senior playing in his final collegiate match, Kareem Williams, the SAC Defensive Player of the Year ended the year with team's most minutes logged at 1726, averaging 82.2 minutes per game played.
• By recording an assist in the match, Real also continued his ascent up the MACU career record book, moving into a tie with Cesar Ramirez (2020-22) for second in the book with 18.
• The match marked just the second time since moving up to the NAIA level that the Evangels lost a postgame penalty kick shootout and the first time they lost one at the Dill Soccer Field. The last time it happened came on Nov. 17, 2017 when the Evangels battled Southwestern Christian to a 1-1 draw in the NCCAA Central Region Championship match before SCU pulled out the 4-3 win in the shootout.
• Despite the heartbreaking result, the season will go down as a historic one for the Evangels is it is the first season in program history that Mid-America Christian went undefeated with a 17-0-4 record. It also marked the third-straight season for the program where the Evangels finished the year with a .900 or better record.