KISSIMMEE, Fla. – While the Evangels missed out on their chance to compete for an NCCAA National Championship, the MACU women's soccer still wrapped up its phenomenal season with its head held high as the Evangels closed out pool play with a 5-1 victory over Redeemer at the Austin-Tindall Soccer Complex on Wednesday afternoon.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – MACU – 7:07 – Goal: Annika Gerdau (5), Assist: Bruna Faleiro – MACU 1, RED 0
• 1^st Half – MACU – 38:33 – Goal: Maria Alonso (3), Assist: Silvia Cinque – MACU 2, RED 0
• 2^nd Half – RED – 51:03 – Goal: Mia Palango (4) – MACU 2, RED 1
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 58:29 – Goal: Jasie Eischen (3) - MACU 3, RED 1
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 59:11 – Goal: Annika Gerdau (6), Assist: Kadin Stinson – MACU 4, RED 1
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 83:11 – Goal: Alissa Taylor (3), Assist: Mia Willyerd – MACU 5, RED 1

MATCH SUMMARY

• It didn't take long for Mid-America Christian (15-4-2) to break into the scoring column with the go-ahead goal in the eighth minute. On the play, Madison Chavez made a great play down the right sideline by saving the ball from going out the touch line by knocking it back toward the field of play off the deflection from a Redeemer player. Bruna Faleiro ran down the loose ball and broke past the defender toward the middle of the 18-yard box, finding Annika Gerdau cutting in toward the left post. Gerdau rifled a 15-yarder toward the inner post that glanced off the keeper's hands and into the top left corner, setting the score to 1-nil.
• Redeemer (6-6-5) managed to put three shots on-goal in the 11^th, 32^nd and 35^th minutes, but none of which gave MACU goalkeeper Rachel Torres much trouble as the Evangels maintained their one-goal advantage.
• The Evangels added some insurance in the 39^th minute when Mia Willyerd tapped a pass back to Silvia Cinque in the midfield, lofting a deep ball into the box for Maria Alonso breaking into the box. With the ball taking one bounce, Alonso headed a shot in over the outreached arms of the goalkeeper to set the score to 2-0 heading into the half.
• Early in the 52^nd minute, the Royals got a goal back off a somewhat controversial play when the ref called a foul on Cammy Hargrove just inside the right edge of the 18-yard box, setting up Redeemer with a penalty kick. The low liner toward the right post struck by Mia Palango snuck in before Torres could react to make it a 2-1 game.
• MACU got the goal back in the 59^th minute. After the ball was cleared out of the box by the Redeemer defense, Jasie Eischen ran the ball down in the midfield and made a sensational back heel flick and cut past the Royals midfielder. From 30-yards out, Eischen made a sensational long flick toward the top right corner that was just out of the reach of the keeper, pushing the Evangels' edge back out to two at 3-1.
• Just 42 seconds later, Mid-America Christian added to its commanding advantage when a goal kick taken by Hargrove found Kadin Stinson in the midfield as she relayed to Gerdau breaking completely uncontested down the left side. Getting into a one-on-one with a Royals defender, Gerdau made a quick dribble to the left and crossed a low grounder toward the right post from 14 yards out to set the score to 4-1.
• The Evangels narrowly missed adding to it in the 62^nd minute when Stinson took a long free kick from 30-yards out from the left side, but her floating attempt bounced off the top of the cross bar to keep it to a three-goal game.
• MACU wrapped up its scoring onslaught in the 84^th minute when Stinson made a great defensive effort to run down an intercepted pass on Redeemer's side and knocked it to Alissa Taylor in the midfield. Facing a 2-on-1 opportunity, Taylor and Willyerd played a little give-and-go at the top of the box as Taylor lofted a 16-yarder over the head of the keeper just under the middle of the crossbar to wrap-up the 5-1 final.

MATCH SUMMARY

• Even though Mid-America Christian posted a dominant result, Redeemer managed to outshoot the Evangels 15-14 for the match, but MACU was far more efficient by holding a 7-4 advantage in shots on-goal and scoring on 71.4 percent of those chances.
• Annika Gerdau led MACU's offensive efforts by recording her first career brace as she netted her two goals on both of her on-target attempts while taking a team-high three shots. The Stelle, Germany product finished the season as MACU's top scorer following her four-point effort with a team-high 19 points for the year.
• Alissa Taylor also attempted three shots in the match for MACU while her final goal of the match marked her third goal of the 2023 season.
• The goals scored by Maria Alonso and Jasie Eischen marked the third goals of the season for each player.
• With the assist on the opening goal, Bruna Faleiro tied Gerdau for the team-lead with her seventh assist of the season, moving into a four-way tie for the eighth-most assists in a year for a MACU player in the NAIA Era (2007-present).
• Kadin Stinson was credited for her third assist of the season on Gerdau's second goal while Mia Willyerd and Silvia Cinque notched their second assists for the year.
• Rachel Torres wrapped up her MACU career with her 14^th win of the season in-goal, allowing just the penalty kick goal in the second half while tallying three saves for a .750 save percentage. Her 14 wins moved her into a tie with Jennifer Starwalt (2019) for the third-most victories in a single season for a MACU goalkeeper in the NAIA Era while her 0.92 goals allowed average also marked the third-best in the books.
• The five-goal effort for the Evangels was their second-most ever in a match at the NCCAA National Championships with only MACU's 6-0 victory over Columbia International (S.C.) on Dec. 1, 2015 topping it.
• The Evangels just barely missed out on an opportunity to advance to the championship after falling to Bethel 1-0 on the first day of the tournament on Monday while the Pilots sealed its championship bid with a 1-0 win over Redeemer in Tuesday's pool play match.
• With Mid-America Christian wrapping up the season with a 15-4-2 overall record, MACU recorded its second-most wins in a single season in the NAIA Era with only the 2010 team boasting a better record at 16-4-1.