AUSTIN, Texas – The College Sports Communicators announced its Men's Soccer Academic All-America honors on Tuesday morning as the MACU Men's Soccer program posted a record four standout student-athletes to the prestigious list. Lucas Catosso, Oscar Gallardo and Enzo Nogue were tabbed to the First Team while Francois Geris-Rey was selected to the Second Team.
It is the first time the Evangels have had four players garner Academic All-America acclaim. The first in the program to receive such honors were Rodrigo Albuquerque and Dejue Johnson following the 2021 season before Albuquerque became MACU's first repeat winner in 2022 along with teammate Fabian Forisch.
Gallardo, a senior defender from Malaga, Spain, spearheaded the MACU defense that allowed the 17th-lowest goals allowed average in the NAIA at 0.86 while logging a team-high 1372 minutes in the center-back position to garner SAC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Despite being a defender, Gallardo came up with one of MACU's most crucial goals of the season in a 2-1 comeback win at Oklahoma Panhandle State on Oct. 29 as he netted the equalizer with 8:19 remaining in the match.
Serving as one of MACU's team captains, Catosso was another crucial piece to the Evangels' exceptional defense that held its opponents to just 7.8 shots per game with just an average 3.0 landing on-goal. Appearing in 20 games and making 19 starts, the All-SAC First Team performer from Sao Paulo, Brazil logged 1295 minutes while tallying two goals and two assists.
Also one of the team captains, Nogue put together one of the most offensively efficient single seasons in program history as he set the single season program records for penalty kick goals with six and shooting percentage by scoring his team-high 10 goals on 25 shot attempts for a .400 clip. An All-SAC First Team honoree, the midfielder from Pignan, France also posted the seventh-best shots on-goal percentage with 16 of his 25 attempts (.640) landing on-frame.
Rounding out the All-American honorees, Geris-Rey continued be one of the best possession-oriented midfielders in the country. The three-year Evangel saw action in 18 games and made 17 starts as he finished with a goal and three assists.
The senior mid from Montpellier, France saved his best performance of the season for postseason play as he netted a goal and an assist in MACU's 3-0 win over Wayland Baptist in the SAC Semifinal on Nov. 9. Geris-Rey wrapped up an incredible career at MACU as he had competed in 57 games and made 31 starts in his tenure with the Evangels.
Mid-America Christian wrapped another incredible season where it won its fourth consecutive SAC regular season title after going 7-0-2 in league play. The Evangels wrapped up the year as the No. 9 ranked team in the NAIA, finishing with an overall record of 14-3-4 as well as being one of the host sites for the NAIA Tournament First and Second Round for the third-straight year.
