OKLAHOMA CITY – Despite outshooting Oklahoma Panhandle State nearly 3-to-1, the MACU Men's Soccer team struggled to put shots on-goal in its return to the Dill Soccer Field as the Evangels dropped a 1-0 heartbreaking decision to the Aggies on Monday night.
 
SCORE

• Oklahoma Panhandle State 1, Mid-America Christian 0
  • Mid-America Christian (6-6-4, 4-1-2 SAC
  • Oklahoma Panhandle State (6-3-5, 2-2-3 SAC)

SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – OPSU – 17:52 – Goal: Ayoup Bader (6), Assist: Calum Murphy – OPSU 1, MACU 0

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian dominated most of the possession early in the first half, but Oklahoma Panhandle State took advantage of a major defensive breakdown by the Evangels in the 18^th minute. On the play, Calum Murphy slipped a cross from the right side to OPSU's top scorer Ayoup Bader breaking into the box uncontested, slipping a shot past Dante Caffaro into the bottom left corner to make it a 1-0 OPSU lead.
  • MACU's best chance at an equalizer in the first half came with just under 18 minutes to go when Ryan Jeanfreau's set piece cross from near the right side found Elias Hirt, who lofted a great ball over the middle of the box to the head of Hayden Hoxie, but he unfortunately pointed his header just left of the post.
  • The Evangels had one more great chance just a minute later when Lucas Catosso went onto the run down the left side, dribbled by his defender and took a powerful left-foot strike from 16-yards out toward the top left, but his shot just barely sailed over the crossbar to allow the Aggies to take a 1-0 lead into the break.
• Second Half
  • The Evangels had two of their best chances at an equalizer ping off the crossbar within less than a minute of each other. In the 55^th minute, Hoxie once again had another phenomenal header chance that bounced off the top right of the bar and back into the field of play. After the Aggies were issued a foul, Federico Palacios had a phenomenal free kick try also strike off the top of the bar and over just 36 seconds later.
  • While MACU had a myriad of chances throughout the half, the Evangels' greatest opportunity came in the 82^nd minute when Henry Tolbert was shoved down to the ground just outside OPSU's 18-yard box, setting up Palacios with another set piece. The junior striker perfectly placed a shot in the lower left corner, but OPSU goalkeeper Olai Caicoya made an incredible diving save to force the ball left of the post to set up a MACU corner.
  • The Aggies narrowly missed getting some insurance a minute later when Murphy got by the Evangels defense, but Caffaro made a sensational save of his own to keep it a one-score game.
  • MACU's last chance at an equalizer came with 2:57 left when Palacios' left side corner found the head of Ryan Jeanfreau, but he wasn't able to get much power behind it as Caicoya pounced on it to seal the victory for OPSU.

MATCH NOTES

• Even though Mid-America Christian downright dominated the possession, outshooting Oklahoma Panhandle State 19-7, the Evangels struggled to put their shots on-goal as both teams finished with three shots on-frame. The .158 shot on-goal percentage for the match was MACU's second-lowest on-frame percentage of the season since only putting one on-frame on seven tries in a 0-0 draw at LSU-Shreveport to open the season on Aug. 21.
• Two of those three on-frame shots came from Ryan Jeanfreau, who attempted a team-high four shots in the match while Hayden Hoxie attempted three, all of which came off headers.
• Freshman goalkeeper Dante Caffaro suffered his first career loss in-goal despite only allowing one to go with a pair of saves, falling to 5-1-2 on the year.
• The result marked MACU's first ever loss to Oklahoma Panhandle State since the two teams started facing each other during the 2019 season.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now start preparing for its final road match of the regular season as the Evangels gear up for a pivotal match at John Brown on Saturday. The contest is slated for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Alumni Field in Siloam Springs, Ark.