OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 14 MACU Men's Soccer team faced a stiff test against a feisty Friends (Kan.) squad that was coming off two positive results, but the Evangels managed to stand firm in the second half to come away with the 2-1 victory at the Dill Soccer Field on Tuesday night.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – FRND – 13:43 – Goal: Jose Quiel (2), Assist: Nathanial Stephens – FRND 1, MACU 0
• 1^st Half – MACU – 18:30 – Goal: Enzo Nogue (5) – MACU 1, FRND 1
• 1^st Half – MACU – 28:44 – Goal: Federico Palacios (1) – MACU 2, FRND 1

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian (4-1-2) had some golden chances in the early going as Tony Ngombi tracked down a deep line-drive through-ball from Francois Geris-Rey at the edge of the box. However, on the one-on-one with the keeper, Ngombi scuffed his shot wide left of goal in the fourth minute.
  • Five minutes later, Pietro Musso got a stellar chance of his own on another phenomenal floating deep ball to the edge of the box from Geris Rey. Yet again though, Musso's 15-yard chip shot just went left of the post to keep it a scoreless game.
  • In the 14^th minute, Friends (0-3-2) found the first goal of the match. At first, it looked as though MACU was going to stop an aggressive Falcons run as the ball was poked away from Caique Perreira on the cutback at the edge of the box. However, the loose ball found the foot of Nathaniel Stephens, who relayed it back to Jose Quiel at the edge of the box as he rifled a 20-yarder into the top left corner to make it a 1-0 game.
  • Almost five minutes later, the Evangels found the equalizer. After Enzo Nogue was taken down inside the 18-yard box trying to cut to his left, the senior captain was awarded a penalty kick. On the try, Nogue was able to get the keeper to bite on a dive to his right before putting a shot back through where the keeper was initially standing to draw the game even at 1-1.
  • The eventual game-winner was also scored on a freebie try. After a foul was called on the Falcons from 30-yards out from goal, Federico Palacios stepped to spot. On his try, the sophomore forward hooked a beautiful strike toward the top right corner that was just out of the reach of the Friends keeper to make it a 2-1 game in the 29^th minute.
• Second Half
  • Chances were few and far between for both squads in the second half as there was not a shot on-goal for either team through the first 33 minutes of the period before Toby Landsdowne mustered MACU's only on-target chance in the 79^th minute off another free kick. From 28-yards out, Landsdowne tried to place a shot inside the right post, but Arturo Pombo-Palomer had the shot well read as he was able to dive and push the save away to keep it a one-score game.
  • Friends' only on-target chance came in the final minute as Eddy Rachedi managed to get a relatively weak re-direct from the left side of the box toward the right post, but MACU goalkeeper Alvaro Morera managed to pounce on it to ultimately seal the Evangels' 2-1 victory.

MATCH NOTES

• While Mid-America Christian was able to own a commanding 17-7 edge in total shots, both teams were stifling on the defensive end as MACU held only a 4-2 margin in on-goal attempts.
• The goal for Enzo Nogue moved him into a tie for third in the Sooner Athletic Conference with his fifth goal of the season and impressively, his third penalty kick goal of the year.
• The game-winning score for Federico Palacios marked his first career game-winner and the second goal of his Evangels career. So far in his young tenure, Palacios has made two downright impressive goal strikes after scoring a lengthy game-tying goal at eventual NAIA National Champion MidAmerica Nazarene last season with 24 seconds left.
• Alvaro Morera garnered his first goalkeeper win at MACU as he allowed just one goal and tallied a save.
• The Evangels improved to 9-0-1 in bounce-back games after a loss since the 2019 season while also impressively improving to 16-1 against KCAC competition since the same year as well as 5-0 against Friends since the two teams started facing each other in 2013.

COACH AARON HOXIE'S ANALYSIS

• "Another incredible first half from the fellas. The ball work was slick, passing crisp, runners in channels and we absolutely should have been up by three or four at half. Was very happy at our response after giving up a sloppy goal, fair play to Friends University. They earned it."
• "Second half was an example of what happens when you don't put teams away when the chances come. Despite our issues, and there were many, we still created chance after chance."
• "I absolutely love the grit and determination of this group. They are earning victories with desire and having no fear. It isn't pretty at the moment, but you only need one more goal than the other team to win a game. After all, that is the objective."

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will wrap-up non-conference play at the Dill Soccer Field on Saturday as the Evangels host Williams Woods for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.