OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 2 MACU men's soccer team faced a stiff test against recent rival Bellevue (Neb.), but the Evangels were able to grind out a hard-fought 2-0 decision against on Saturday night at the Dill Soccer Field.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – MACU – 36:55 – Goal: Yasha Schaerer (2) – MACU 1, BU 0
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 76:04 – Goal: Jack Price (3), Assist: Diego Real – MACU 2, BU 0

MATCH SUMMARY

• Mid-America Christian (6-0-1) had the first on-target strike of the match when Jack Price was able to get a 10-yard look toward the right post, but a tough contested angle allowed Bellevue goalkeeper Taariq Ganga to smother the low liner for the easy save.
• The Evangels first great opportunity at the lead came in the at the turn of the 17^th minute when a deep send by MACU goalkeeper Claudio Fuentealba found the head of Charlie Betts in the midfield, sending it onto the run of Diego Real who was able to get behind the defense. With a one-on-one with the keeper, Real fired a 17-yard low liner that Ganga briefly stopped before getting up to knock away Real's rebounded shot from 10-yards out, ultimately keeping it to a scoreless game.
• Near the end of the 37^th minute, MACU captured the lead with a free strike off a major Bellevue (4-4-2) miscue. After Kareem Williams had his long-range shot saved by Ganga and pushed out toward the right corner. Following a Yasha Schaerer short corner and a brief clearance out of the box on the cross, Real was able to knock the ball down and dribble into the box before a sliding tackle took down Real, issuing a penalty kick to MACU.
• With 8:05 to go in the half, Schaerer took the MACU PK and lasered it inside the lower left post to make it a 1-0 MACU lead.
• In the last three minutes, Claudio Fuentealba came up with two important stops as a flicker off the head of Antonio Capra off a left-side throw-in ended up in Fuentealba's lap before Ganga came up to take a free kick with a minute left from midfield, putting the long range shot on-target that was easily stopped to keep it to a 1-0 game at halftime.
• Bellevue's best chance at an equalizer came in the 57^th minute when a deep left side cross by Caedmon Schwanke found the head of Alvaro Moros Sanz in the middle of the box. From 12-yards out, Sanz put it toward the middle of the crossbar, but Fuentealba made a sensational leaping save to force the shot over the bar to allow MACU to regroup on the corner kick.
• In the 77^th minute, Mid-America Christian came up with a huge insurance goal when Real won a ball in the midfield before launching a pass up for the run of Jack Price down the middle. Ganga came out of the penalty box to try and clear the ball, but the risky play backfired when he missed the opportunity to clear, allowing Price to get in behind him for a completely uncontested tap-in to settle the 2-0 score.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian held just a slim 12-11 edge in shots over Bellevue, but the Evangel defense was able to limit the Bruins to just four on-target shots while MACU placed seven shots on-frame.
• With his penalty kick goal, Yasha Schaerer came away with his first career game-winning goal while marking his second goal of the season.
• Jack Price's late second half score was his 18^th career goal in his third season with the Evangels, moving him into a tie for sixth on MACU's NAIA Era (2007-present) career goal scoring list alongside Pero Mikulic (2019-20) and Ricardo Ferreira (2021-22).
• Diego Real led the offensive efforts with four shots, three of which were on-goal while his assist to Price marked his 12^th career dime, moving him up the NAIA Era career assist list into a tie for seventh with Luan Cesar (2020-22) and Simon Van Rheeden (2018-19).
• Claudio Fuentealba remained perfect in-goal, improving to 6-0 on the season while recording a season-high four saves for his third shutout of the year.
• MACU now holds a 5-0 record all-time against Bellevue with all of their meetings coming since the 2020 season, outscoring the Bruins 11-3 in the all-time series.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap-up non-conference play with a challenging road contest next week as the Evangels will head to Columbia, Missouri to take on No. 15 Columbia for a 4 p.m. kickoff at R. Marvin Owens Field.