OKLAHOMA CITY – Top-seeded No. 9 MACU Men's Soccer faced a test from an eighth-seeded Nelson squad that managed to get into the Sooner Athletic Tournament during the final week of competition as the Evangels held on for the 1-0 victory at the Dill Soccer Field on Wednesday night.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – MACU – 28:07 – Goal: Josh Macklin (2), Assist: Federico Palacios – MACU 1, NU 0

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (13-1-4) had a golden opportunity to grab the advantage in the 12^th minute when the right back defender slipped on a cross from the left side, allowing Federico Palacios to pass it to a wide-open Toby Lansdowne from 10-yards out. However, the junior keeper accidentally struck his shot directly at the keeper to keep the match level.
  • The Evangels had only one other attempt on-goal before finding the winning shot as Jimmy Cabrera struck a long-distance attempt from the left side, but Nelson (6-6-7) goalkeeper Leonel Cuellar managed to pounce on it in the 17^th minute for the match to remain scoreless.
  • At the top of the 29^th minute, MACU pushed across the lone goal of the contest when similarly to the first on-target shot attempt, Palacios won the ball away from the NU defender on the left side before delivering a perfect cross to Josh Macklin in the middle of the 18-yard box. On the one-touch tap, Macklin then strode and struck a phenomenal 16-yard low-liner into the bottom left corner to make it a 1-0 MACU lead.
• Second Half
  • The Evangels maintained the possession for most of the first 20 minutes of the second half as MACU's best opportunity to add to its advantage during this stretch came in the 60^th minute. On this shot attempt. Palacios once again was strong in the attack, cutting through multiple Lions defenders into the left side of the penalty box before centering it to Pietro Musso for a relatively open nine-yard shot. Needing to spin before taking the strike, Musso had a great look, but he accidentally put his attempt just a little high of the top right corner, leading to a NU goal kick.
  • The Lions built some momentum in the final 10 minutes of the contest as Nelson, who was held to without a single shot on-goal through the first 80 minutes of the contest finally managed to take a few late, but Guilherme Ravaneda's left-side grounder provided little challenge for MACU goalkeeper Claudio Fuentealba in the 81^st minute before Jan Zapata took the most dangerous chance for the Lions in the 85^th minute, but once again, Fuentealba was able to handle it to keep the clean sheet.
  • Macklin had a great opportunity to end up on the brace in the 88^th minute when a sliding takeaway set up Jimmy Cabrera attacking the right baseline before centering a pass for Macklin inside the box. His strike from 16-yards out toward the left post was well-placed and out of the reach of the diving Cuellar. However, the Lions did well in defense as Dillion Cecil Du Toit was perfectly placed to come up with the defensive save.

MATCH NOTES

• In the defensive slugfest, Mid-America Christian doubled-up the shot advantage over Nelson with a 14-7 edge in shots, but just a 5-2 advantage in shots on-goal.
• The goal netted by Josh Macklin was his second of the season and his first career game-winner with the Evangels. It was the junior midfielder's first goal since coming up with the dramatic equalizer with just 2:24 remaining in a 1-1 draw against Williams Baptist on Sept. 2.
• The assist for Federico Palacios on the winning score marked the sophomore forward's third of the season as he continues to sit in second on MACU's point total list for the year at 13.
• Macklin and Pietro Musso led the Evangels attack for the match as Macklin finished with three shots, two of which were on-goal while Musso also attempted three shots.
• Senior goalkeeper Claudio Fuentealba continued to build to his incredible MACU legacy in-goal as he notched his sixth shutout of the season, moving him into a tie for fifth with Austin Custar (2010) for the fifth-most in a single season while his 11^th victory currently sits just outside the season top five, needing only one more victory to match Jakob O'Meara-Gill (2017) for fifth.
• Fuentealba's 14^th career clean sheet allowed him to overtake Austen Parker (2019) for the outright No. 2 spot in the career shutouts list, needing three more to catch leader Jeremi Abonnel (2021-22).
• Mid-America Christian continued its incredible successful run in Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament play as the Evangels have won 10-straight league tourney games and are 12-0-1 since the 2020-21 season with the lone tie coming in the SAC Championship game against current head coach Aaron Hoxie's Central Christian Tigers team.
• The win also allowed MACU to expand its win streak to nine games over the Lions since the 2019 season while improving to 19-5 all-time over Nelson since the 2004 campaign.

HEAD COACH AARON HOXIE'S ANALYSIS

• "It feels like March Madness...it is just survive and advance at this point.  The how is important, but the how doesn't matter when goals are the only metric. That being said, our goal from the very beginning of the year has been to just have one more than the other team at the end of 90 minutes."
• "I'll take this team with me to the grinder any place, against any team and at any time. They've proven time and again that their work rate produces fruit and the fruit is producing results.  I really enjoy coaching this side of them."
• "Once again, the back line was stout, with another conference clean sheet.  You can't lose if they don't score...we'll find one eventually, somewhere and from someone...so we just need to continue to concentrate on the things that we are strong at because it is working.  Goals will come...we are confident in our group...they will come."

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will be matched up against another Texas team in the SAC Semifinal on Saturday as the Evangels host No. 5 seed Wayland Baptist for a 7 p.m. kickoff at the Dill Soccer Field.