OKLAHOMA CITY – The Neil Hilton era for the MACU men's soccer team picked right up where it left off last season as the sixth-ranked Evangels cruised to a 1-0 victory over LSU-Shreveport in a stifling defensive effort at the Dill Soccer Field on Thursday night.

Sophomore forward Henry Tolbert netted the lone Evangels goal while the MACU defense held the Pilots to just six shots, to which just one was on-target.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – MACU – 40:13 – Goal: Henry Tolbert (1), Assist: Enzo Nogue – MACU 1, LSUS 0

MATCH SUMMARY

• Both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm through the first 15 minutes as neither team was able to muster a shot before the Pilots' Jake Thomas rifled a 24-yarder toward the right post off a takeaway that was chested down by a diving Claudio Fuentealba to keep LSUS off the board.
• During the 33^rd minute, MACU finally got its first look at an on-target shot as 2023 Gatorade Oklahoma High School Player of the Year Federico Palacios put an on-target cross into the lap of LSUS goalkeeper Kyle Mcleish, who had to make an even tougher save on Enzo Nogue's rocket shot from the left side of the box in the 37^th minute.
• Just before the 40^th minute, MACU had a great chance at its first goal when Yasha Schaerer placed a well-placed right-side corner into the middle of the box as Sebastian Robelledo put a header that bounced off the top of the crossbar, keeping it squared scoreless.
• Just 30 seconds later, the Evangels finally found their winner as Enzo Nogue easily intercepted the ensuing goal kick before delivering it to Henry Tolbert breaking in toward the left post, blasting an eight-yarder into the top left corner to make it a 1-0 game heading into the half.
• Once again, both teams struggled against each other's defenses to start the second half as neither team managed to put a shot on-goal until the 61^st minute when Pietro Musso's attempt from the right side toward the left post was snagged on the dive by Mcleish.
• Kareem Williams was the only other Evangel to place an on-target shot in the half in the 70^th minute, but his left-footed attempt from 35-yards out lacked the power to get it past Mcleish for the easy save.
• The MACU defense came up with two huge blocked shot attempts in the 77^th minute, the biggest coming on Thomas' free kick from just outside the 18-yard box before Alex Golder had his attempt off the carom rejected by the MACU defense as well, proving to be the Pilots final shot attempts of the contest.

MATCH NOTES

• While Mid-America Christian held a commanding 16-6 lead in the shot department over LSU-Shreveport, both teams struggled to generate much on-goal against the two stiff defenses as MACU held a 5-1 edge in on-target attempts.
• Henry Tolbert recorded his first career goal and Enzo Nogue notched his first career assist with the Evangels while another MACU newcomer in Charlie Betts commanded the offense with a team-high four shot attempts.
• Another impactful transfer, Holy Cross (Ind.) standout Claudio Fuentealba notched a shutout in his first career match with MACU as he tallied a save in the victory.
• Facing each other for the first time since 2019, the Evangels avenged a heartbreaking loss to the Pilots on Sept. 11 as Stephen Nganga scored the equalizer with 19 seconds left to force overtime before falling on a penalty kick golden goal in the 103^rd minute.
• First year head coach Neil Hilton earned a win in his first match as a collegiate head coach. Hilton was named the program's skipper after serving a two-year stint as an assistant coach with the program in 2021 and 2022, a stretch where MACU went 38-3-3 while winning a pair of SAC regular season and tournament titles while also earning a bid to the NAIA National Championships final site last season.
• LSU-Shreveport was MACU's first opponent of seven non-conference opponents that qualified for the NAIA National Championship Tournament last season. The Pilots in 2022 went 14-4-3 and won both the Red River Athletic Conference regular season title with a 9-0-2 league mark as well as the conference's tournament title.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will face another tough foe in their first road match of the season on Saturday as the Evangels will head to Ottawa, Kan. for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff against another squad receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 Poll in the Braves.