OKLAHOMA CITY – During halftime of the MACU Women's Soccer game against Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Mid-America Christian honored the MACU Reserve Men's Soccer team that captured its first ever Sooner Athletic Conference Reserve Men's Soccer Tournament Championship last week.
"Winning the SAC Reserve Tournament is a testament to our hard work and dedication," said MACU Reserve Men's Soccer head coach Paulo Lopez. "We faced challenges head-on and never gave up. This victory is not just for us but for everyone who supported us along the way. Throughout everything, we always put God first and we thank him for everything."
The Evangels and Central Christian co-hosted the second annual eight-team tournament at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kansas from Oct. 9-11.
Mid-America Christian faced Wayland Baptist in its Quarterfinal match on the Stadium Field on Oct. 9 and just 15 minutes into the contest, the Evangels put across the game-winner when Akira Ono dribbled through three defenders on the left side of the 18-yard box before slipping a shot past the keeper who came too far off his line to make it an early 1-0 MACU lead.
After taking its one-goal advantage into the half, it didn't take long for MACU to add some insurance as Isaac Carpenter made a sensational run down the right side after a great cross-field pass from Tomas Bascon. Carpenter beat his defenders on the dribble to the right side baseline and did a sensational job of keeping the ball in before delivering a great pass to Mauricio Lubbert, who pin-pointed a precise 10-yard strike into the top right corner to seal the 2-0 victory.
The Evangels then squared off against John Brown, who stunned top-seeded Southern Nazarene with the Golden Eagles being in their first season as a reserve program. However, MACU wouldn't allow JBU to notch a second upset as the Evangels netted a pair of scores in-succession in the 21st and 24th minutes.
On the go-ahead score, Ayden Thompson's break down the left side found Bascon open at the top of the 18-yard box, firing a strong strike inside the right post to make it 1-0. The Evangels insurance score just minutes later when Carpenter hit a low, bouncing right side corner toward the top of the box that found Rahmon Oduborisa, who managed to fire a half-volley liner inside the left post to make it a 2-nil contest.
The Evangels put in their final goal with just 48 seconds left in the first half that put Bascon on the brace when Oduborisa lofted a beautiful deep left side cross to Bascon breaking wide open toward the right post as he flicked in the final score to seal the 3-0 result.
Facing off against crosstown rival Southwestern Christian in the Championship game on Friday, Mid-America Christian had some fantastic scoring chances in the final 10 minutes of the first half when a foul in the box set up Bascon for a penalty kick. However, SCU goalkeeper Patrick Cordero, who had been sensational throughout the entire tournament made another solid save to keep MACU off the board.
The Evangels had another fantastic chance less than two minutes later when Ono was tripped out just outside the top of the 18-yard box, setting up a 20-yard free kick try. With the Eagles playing a four-man wall with another lying on the ground behind the wall to deflect a low-liner, Oduborisa quickly tapped a pass left to Ono who had a solid look, but grounded his shot just wide right of the right post to go into the half with a 0-0 draw.
Southwestern Christian found the go-ahead goal on a run down the left side just a few minutes into the second half, putting the Evangels in-danger with a 1-0 deficit that held for most of the match.
After Ono nearly came up with the equalizer on a low-liner from 12-yards out toward the right post that Cordero made another stellar save with eight minutes left, setting up Carpenter for a right side corner. On the ensuing corner, Carpenter perfectly placed the corner to Mason Kilpatrick on the right side of the box as he punched it inside the right post to tie it up at 1-1 to ultimately force a penalty kick shootout.
Mid-America Christian went kick-for-kick with Southwestern Christian in the shootout as it was 3-3 through the first five, but a made PK to start off the extra kicks by SCU put the Evangels in-danger of being eliminated.
However, Isaiah Yousey came up with a massive made in the ensuing penalty as his quickly-struck short run-up shot toward the left post completely caught Cordero off-guard as it drew the shootout even at 4-4.
On SCU's next penalty, MACU goalkeeper Luke Berry made an enormous save diving to his left to keep the ball out of the next, setting up Carpenter for the winning opportunity. On his PK strike, Carpenter perfectly placed the winning goal in the top right corner to seal the 5-4 penalty shootout victory.
After falling in last year's SAC Reserve Tournament Championship 2-1 to Science & Arts, the Evangels became the only team to play in the reserve title game in both seasons of the tournament's existence.
"I am very proud of these boys for their performance overall at the tournament," stated MACU Men's Soccer head coach Aaron Hoxie. :It is very difficult to play on back-to-back days at this level, much less three in a row. I thought that they persevered in the circumstances and worked as a team in order to accomplish the first ever championship for our program. I am looking forward to continued growth as we look to enhance the competitive nature of the whole."
