OKLAHOMA CITY – A Labor Day matchup of defending conference champions lived up to its billing as Josh Macklin scored in the 88^th minute for No. 11 MACU men's soccer team, which stayed unbeaten with a 1-1 draw against Williams Baptist.

SCORING SUMMARY

• 2^nd Half – WBU – 80:18 – Goal: Jacobo Obradors (1); Assist: Hugo Gil, Adrian Briceno – WBU 1, MACU 0
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 87:46 – Goal: Josh Macklin (1); Assist: Frederico Palacios – MACU 1, WBU 1

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Through the first 45 minutes of competition, Mid-America Christian (2-0-2) out-shot Williams Baptist 8-3.
  • The Eagles put together the first big scoring chance in the fourth minute when Jacobo Obradors got an open look on-goal on the right side off the cross from the left side, but his header bounced off the outer edge of the crossbar for a goal kick.
  • The Evangels missed a chance to score first against the Eagles when Pietro Musso, the star of Friday's last-second win over Benedictine, failed to find the back of the net on a left-side cross to the middle from Akira Ono as his half-volley sailed just wide right of goal.

 

• Second Half
  • MACU had a phenomenal chance at the go-ahead goal in the 77^th minute when Enzo Nogue played a short corner on the left side of the box before crossing it to Sebastian Rebolledo toward the middle of the six-yard box. He was able to put a pinpoint header toward the upper right crossbar, but WBU goalkeeper Rodrigo Pina made an incredible leaping save to push the ball over the crossbar.
  • Obradors, who took all three of his team's shots in the first half, scored the Eagles' only goal in the 81^st minute. Four different players touched the ball for WBU, including Victor Gil, who dished the ball to Adrian Briceno, who crossed it to Obrador on the right side, who found the net inside the right post from 12 yards away.
  • With time running out and the Evangels (2-0-2) looking for another late goal to save the day, Macklin delivered. Palacios slipped a through ball down the left sideline for Macklin breaking into the 18-yard box. He beat Pina from eight yards away with 2:14 left to knot the score.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian outshot the Eagles 6-5 and finished with 14 total shots for the match, including nine shots on goal. MACU goalkeeper Alvaro Moreira faced four shots on goal and saved three.
• Macklin, a junior transfer from Lewis & Clark (Ill.), scored his first career goal for the Evangels while the assist from Federico Palacios marked the seventh of his two-year MACU career.
• It was the second time in three days that MACU scored a goal in the waning moments to change the outcome of a match. On Saturday, the Evangles defeated Benedictine 1-0 on Musso's goal in the final second.
• The first ever meeting between MACU and Williams Baptist officially goes into the books as a draw.

COACH AARON HOXIE'S ANALYSIS

• "These are the type of results that feel like a loss and that is just how things are in this game.  We did enough to win the game on the front foot the entire time, but we were a silly turnover away from coming away with all the points."
• "We've got to get better...but more importantly, we've got some internal stuff we have to fix.  At the end of the day, we've not taken a loss and it's a low point, but we will learn from it and get better."

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian puts its unblemished record on the line when the Evangels play Ottawa (Kan.) at 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 7 on Dill Soccer Field.