OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Men's Soccer team took care of business in its NCCAA Central Region Quarterfinal match against Dallas Christian at the Dill Soccer Field on Tuesday afternoon as the Evangels came away with the 3-0 win.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 3, Dallas Christian 0
  • Mid-America Christian (9-8-4)
  • Dallas Christian (3-8-7)

SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – MACU – 11:24 – Goal: Ryan Jeanfreau (10), Assist: Elias Hirt – MACU 1, DCC 0
• 1^st Half – MACU – 21:28 – Goal: Haruya Higuchi (6), Assist: Henry Tolbert – MACU 2, DCC 0
• 2^nd Half – MACU – 70:37 – Goal: Elias Hirt (1), Assists: Henry Tolbert, Haruya Higuch – MACU 3, DCC 0

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Haruya Higuchi got a pair of early chances on-frame for Mid-America Christian in the third and fifth minutes, but DCC goalkeeper Sebastian Guerrero came up with a pair of strong saves to keep the Evangels off the board.
  • In the 12^th minute, MACU finally broke through the Dallas Christian defense when Elias Hirt cut through the middle of the defense and delivered a perfect ball into the left side of the box for Ryan Jeanfreau, as he was able to power a shot in through the save of Guerrero make it an early 1-0 Evangels edge.
  • The Evangels didn't have very many chances over the next 10 minutes with the lone shot on-goal coming from Toby Lansdowne in the 21^st minute but Higuchi came through a minute later. On the play, Henry Tolbert made a sensational move down the right side to get by his defender and incredibly kept the ball from going out the right baseline before delivering a cross to a wide-open Higuchi in the middle of the box, slipping a shot into the lower left post to set the score to 2-0.
  • The best look that MACU had at a third before heading into the break came from Isaac Carpenter getting his first minutes of the season, as he blasted a long right-side liner just barely over the crossbar in the 36^th minute as the Evangels maintained their 2-0 lead at the half.
• Second Half
  • The Evangels had a sensational chance to make it 3-0 in the 58^th minute when Higuchi got by his defender on the left side of the box to set up a one-on-one with the keeper, but he placed his shot off the right post before being cleared by the Crusaders.
  • While Jeanfreau continuously peppered the DCC defense with shots, it was Elias Hirt that came through with MACU's third goal. In the 71^st minute, Higuchi sent a great through ball down the right side for Tolbert on the run, who delivered a sensational cross to a wide-open Hirt at the top of the box. From 16-yards out, he rifled a sensational strike into the top left corner to wrap-up the scoring at 3-0.

MATCH NOTES

• Mid-America Christian downright dominated the possession, outshooting Dallas Christian by a 23-5 margin with a 10-1 edge in shots on-goal.
• Ryan Jeanfreau came up with his 10^th goal of the season and his fifth game-winning of the year, leading the attack with six shots, four of which were on-goal.
• Not only did Elias Hirt score his first career Evangels goal, but he also tallied an assist on Jeanfreau's game-winner for his fist MACU assist as well.
• Haruya Higuchi also posted a three-point game for MACU with his goal and assist, as he also was one of the centerpieces of the Evangels attack with five shots and three on-goal.
• In his third season with the program, Henry Tolbert recorded his first career multi-assist game with MACU with a pair of dimes.
• Alvaro Morera recorded his fourth shutout of the year, but was relatively untested behind a stellar back line performance by MACU, which allowed only one shot on-goal the entire match. The win allowed him to improve to 3-4-2 in-goal for the Evangels.
• The victory for MACU was only the program's third over Dallas Christian, but have now won two in a row after running away with a 12-1 win at the Dill Soccer Field on Sept. 18, 2018. The contest also marked the first time in program history the Evangels shut out the Crusaders.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now await to see who it will play in the NCCAA Central Region Championship at the Dill Soccer Field on Friday. The Evangels will play the winner of the Wayland Baptist/Nelson game being played on Tuesday night with Friday's kickoff slated for a 3 p.m. kickoff.