WAXAHACHIE, Texas – The No. 12 MACU Men's Soccer team faced little resistance from Nelson on its Senior Night at the Lions Athletic Complex as the Evangels ran away with an important 4-0 road victory on Saturday night.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – MACU – 18:36 – Goal: Enzo Nogue (8) – MACU 1, NU 0
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 58:45 – Goal: Enzo Nogue (9) – MACU 2, NU 0
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 79:28 – Goal: Carlos Lobo (2), Assist: Uviwe Qasha – MACU 3, NU 0
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 80:08 – Goal: Akira Ono (1) – MACU 4, NU 0

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (11-1-4, 6-0-2 SAC) had a good look at a potential go-ahead goal in the 15^th minute when a quick counter set up Carlos Lobo with a strike from the right side, but NU goalkeeper David Beltran made a strong diving save to keep it level.
  • The Evangels found the go-ahead goal in the 19^th minute when Sebastian Rebolledo was taken down inside the box following an Enzo Nogue short corner and crossed into the box, setting up Nogue with yet another penalty kick. On the free try, Nogue slotted the PK into the bottom left corner to make it a 1-0 MACU advantage.
  • Nelson (5-5-7, 0-5-3 SAC) was only able to get one shot on-target through the first half in the 20^th minute, but it was a point-blank shot that Claudio Fuentealba was able to deflect out-of-bounds at the point of attack to keep it a 1-0 lead going into the half.
• Second Half
  • The Evangels put together a goal-scoring barrage in the second half that started with an incredible strike from Nogue in the 59^th minute. After a foul was called on the Lions from about 20-yards out on the right side, Nogue hit an incredible strike that was perfectly tucked into the top left corner out of the reach of the leaping keeper to make it a 2-0 game.
  • Approaching the end of the contest, the Evangels netted a pair of goals in less than a minute. In the 80^th minute, Uviwe Qasha's pass on the right side deflected off a defender, but right to Carlos Lobo, who perfectly slotted a 20-yard shot from the right side into the bottom left corner to set the score to 3-0.
  • Just 40 seconds later, Akira Ono put together an incredible individual effort after Josh Macklin's header found his feet, dribbling through three different defenders from the left side into the penalty box before slotting a right-side diagonal into the bottom left corner from 10-yards out to wrap-up the scoring at 4-nil.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian thoroughly dominated the possession throughout as the Evangels effectively attempted 10 shots and put eight on-goal while Nelson was held to just six shots with two on-target shots that were not threatening.
• In his second season with MACU, Enzo Nogue recorded his first career brace with the Evangels as his two goals extended his team goal lead to nine as well as his point total to 23. Nogue also notched his fifth penalty kick goal, sitting at a perfect 5-for-5 so far this season.
• The goal netted by Carlos Lobo was the second of his Evangels career while Akira Ono also scored his first career goal in his third year at MACU.
• Claudio Fuentealba and Alvaro Morera were credited with the combined shutout as Fuentealba tallied a pair of saves in the contest while also getting credit for the win to improve to 10-1-3 on the year in-goal.
• The four goals scored in the contest matched MACU's season-high in a game in the season while the Evangels have outscored their opponents 21-3 in league play this year.
• With the victory, Mid-America Christian extended its win streak to eight games over Nelson.
• The result allowed MACU to stay within striking distance of John Brown at the top of the SAC standings as the Evangels sit just a point back with 20 points with the Golden Eagles sitting at 21 (7-1).

COACH AARON HOXIE'S ANALYSIS

• "Comprehensive performance from the boys tonight. Sharp on the ball, good movement, excellent defending, but…average in-front of goal.  However, we led in the only category that matters in this game."
• "We lost control for about 15 minutes in the first half, turning the ball over and not getting on the end of second balls. Credit to Nelson during this period, I felt that they deserved a goal for their movements and chances created. Our back line held firm and the goalkeeper made a nice save to keep us in it. That being said, it should have been 3-nil by this point, but we needed some clinicality in order to do so."
• "Second half was a battering. Their fatigue level was increasing and we were no longer losing in some of the aspects from the first half. Our willing runners were causing massive problems in their ranks and it was only a matter of time before the breakthrough occurred.  We went from two to four in a matter of minutes, effectively ending things with Akira's first goal of his MACU career."
• "Short turnaround Tuesday as we are at Panhandle. Very important game. We can only control what we can do and need a little luck to take the title, but that's not for us to decide. However, we absolutely cannot drop points if we want a chance at the show." 

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap-up the regular season on Tuesday as the Evangels head to Goodwell, Oklahoma for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff against Oklahoma Panhandle State inside Anchor D Stadium.