WINONA LAKE, Ind. – Coming off a strong 1-1 result at No. 6 Bethel on Thursday night, the No. 13 MACU men's soccer team earned its first victory of the season in impressive fashion, as the Evangels secured a 2-1 win over No. 7 Grace at 1st Source Bank Field on Saturday afternoon.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – MACU – 5:48 – Goal: Mario Garcia (1); Assist: Enzo Nogue – MACU 1, GC 0
• 1^st Half – GC – 22:28 – Goal: Kyle Holwerda (2); Assist: Josh Cruz – MACU 1, GC 1
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 64:31 – Goal: Enzo Nogue (2)– MACU 2, GC 1

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian pushed across the opening goal in just the sixth minute of the contest when Federico Palacios ran a through-ball down the left sideline before crossing it into the middle of the box. Team captain Enzo Nogue flicked it with his foot off the bounce toward Mario Garcia sprinting into the right side, punching in an open 10-yarder toward the left side to set the score to 1-nil.
  • The Evangels had a great chance to add to it in the 12^th minute when a foul called just outside 18-yard box on the left side, setting up a Francois Geris-Rey free kick. However, Lancers goalkeeper Matteo Conci punched out the attempted shot toward the middle to keep it a one-goal game.
  • In the 22^nd minute, Grace found the equalizer when a through ball sent down the right sideline was tracked down by Josh Cruz and centered in the middle of the box for Kyle Holwerda, who punched it into the middle from six-yards out to make it a 1-1 contest.
  • Neither team was able to muster another opportunity on-goal for the remainder of the half as the two teams remained deadlocked at 1-apiece heading into the break.
• Second Half
  • MACU had the first on-target chance of the second half as the Evangels worked the ball from the left side toward the middle as Nogue dished it to the right side of the box for Josh Macklin, whose initial 20-yard attempt was blocked before tracking down the loose ball for a 16-yard follow-up from the right side that was easily saved.
  • With 25:06 left, Mid-America Christian recaptured the lead when Garcia was taken down just inside the left portion of the 18-yard box trying to make a cutback, which set up the Evangels with the penalty kick. With Nogue stepping up to the spot, the senior midfielder rifled a low liner inside the left post to make it a 2-1 game.
  • The Evangels found themselves in a challenging situation playing down a man over the final 20:14 when Jimmy Cabrera was tacked on with his second yellow card, prompting an automatic red card and forcing MACU to play with 10 men for the rest of the contest.
  • Despite needing to play down a man, the Evangels defense did not break as the Lancers were unable to get a shot on-goal the rest of the way as MACU held on for the 2-1 victory.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian's defense thoroughly dominated the match, outshooting Grace 10-3 with a 6-1 edge in shots on-goal.
• By getting the victory, the Evangels completed their Indiana road swing with two quality NAIA Top 10 results after playing No. 6 Bethel to a 1-1 draw on Thursday night and a 2-1 win over No. 7 Grace on Saturday. MACU has continued to be one of the top performing teams in the NAIA over the past two seasons as the Evangels improved to 3-0-3 against top 25 foes in that time frame.
• Enzo Nogue put together a three-point performance as his game-winner in the 65^th minute was his third career goal and his first winner of the season and also notched an assist on Mario Garcia's first half score.
• The goal for Garcia went down as the first of his MACU career while Nogue and Federico Palacios were credited with assists on the play.
• By getting the win in-goal, senior goalkeeper Claudio Fuentealba moved alone into fourth on MACU's career keeper wins list with his 16^th victory.
• The Evangels improved to 4-0 all-time against Grace after picking up a 3-2 result over the Lancers at the Dill Soccer Field last season on Aug. 30, 2023.

COACH AARON HOXIE'S ANALYSIS

• "Massive win for the boys. We played to our strengths and their weaknesses and were excellent in following the game plan."
• "I thought the amount of work we had to do after the dubious red card really showed from our preseason. All the guys left their blood, sweat and hair out there to earn the points. We threw some massive weights around for 90 minutes out here today."
• "We've got to find a way to be a bit more aggressive in the attacking third and need to concentrate on not giving up soft goals. We always have room for improvement. We'll celebrate this tonight, get home tomorrow morning and Lord willing, open up the tank again on Monday. We're going to let the boys enjoy this one."

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will return to the Dill Soccer Field for its first home match of the season on Friday as the Evangels host Benedictine (Kan.) for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.