OKLAHOMA CITY – For the seventh-straight year, a MACU Men's Soccer player earned at least a share of the Sooner Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year award as senior Lucas Catosso collected the esteemed honor while five Evangels in Ryan Jeanfreau, Haruya Higuchi, Dante Caffaro, and Jimmy Cabrera also earned All-SAC accolades.
In his second season with the Evangels, Catosso helped spearhead a MACU defense that allowed the fewest goals of any team within SAC play (8) while the Evangels as a whole had the largest goal differential in the conference (17-8). The Evangels as a team defense held their opposition to only 8.8 shots per game with only 4.0 landing on-goal.
In his lone season with MACU, senior forward Ryan Jeanfreau was one of four MACU players to earn First Team honors after being the team's top striker, scoring the second-most goals (9) of any player in the SAC and had a stretch where he scored a goal in five consecutive matches during league play. The Mandeville, La. product also netted half of the team's game-winning goals (4).
After missing most of the non-conference slate due to injury, junior forward Haruya Higuchi recovered just in-time for SAC play to make an impact in the MACU attack netting all four of his goals and tallying two of his four assists coming in league play, allowing the Tokyo, Japan native to collect First Team accolades.
On-top of Catosso, the freshman goalkeeper in Caffaro was also selected to the First Team after his breakout season. After becoming the team's starting goalkeeper late in non-conference play, Caffaro notched a 4-2-2 record in-goal during league play, posting a 1.00 goals allowed average and made 23 saves for a .742 save percentage while posting a pair of shutouts. The Para de Minas, Brazil native came up with a career-high five saves in the 1-1 draw at Wayland Baptist while recording back-to-back four save contests in wins over Science & Arts and Nelson to follow.
Rounding out the All-SAC honorees with Second Team acclaim, one of the most tenured Evangels in the junior midfielder Cabrera collected the honor. Overall, Cabrera notched two goals and an assist during league play while getting his third of the season in MACU's 3-0 victory in the SAC Quarterfinal. Overall, the Oklahoma City native has seen action in 55 games and made 23 starts in his three-year stint with MACU in his career.
Mid-America Christian is currently awaiting to see where it will be playing its postseason. The NAIA Tournament selection will take place on Friday and if the Evangels don't qualify, they will host the NCCAA Central Region Semifinal on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
