SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – The MACU Men's Soccer team had No. 2 seed John Brown against the ropes late, but a costly foul in the box to set up the game-tying penalty kick before the Golden Eagles scored the golden goal in overtime eliminated MACU in the Sooner Athletic Semifinal as the Evangels fell 2-1 at Alumni Field on Saturday night.
 
SCORE

• John Brown 2, Mid-America Christian 1 (OT)
  • Mid-America Christian (8-8-4)
  • John Brown (12-3-4)

SCORING SUMMARY

• 2^nd Half – MACU – 49:55 – Goal: Papa Toure (2), Assist: Federico Palacios – MACU 1, JBU 0
• 2^nd Half – JBU – 86:46 – Goal: Alejandro Gallardo (8) – MACU 1, JBU 1
• OT – JBU – 97:58 – Goal: Gabriel Cabrera (5), Assists: Atim Roper, Adam Tebbs – JBU 2, MACU 1

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • After making a relatively easy save in the second minute on a bouncing header, Dante Caffaro came up with two massive saves in the 28^th minute off the foot of Alejandro Gallardo and head of Braeden Templin to keep it scoreless.
  • Neither side was able to muster another shot on-goal for the rest of the half as the two teams went into the break all square at 0-0.
• Second Half
  • Despite not having any on-goal opportunities in the first half, Papa Toure set MACU up with its first great chance early in the second half when he was fouled just outside JBU's penalty box in the 50^th minute. Taking the free kick, Federico Palacios hit a liner from the right side of the box in toward the right side of the net that was redirected off the head of Papa Toure into the right side to make it a 1-0 game.
  • MACU's only other on-target chance came in the 65^th minute on a long strike by Jimmy Cabrera, but the low liner did not provide much of a challenge for JBU's keeper.
  • A minute later, JBU had one of its most dangerous chances of the second half when Amaury Jarry got a clean header toward goal, but sent it just wide right of the right post to keep it a one-goal game.
  • The Evangels maintained their one-goal advantage with time winding down when MACU was called for a foul inside the box with 3:14 remaining to set JBU up for a penalty kick. To put MACU in an even more precarious situation a double-yellow assessed to Matias Garcia forced the Evangels to play down a man for the rest of the match.
  • On the ensuing PK by Alejandro Gallardo, Caffaro made the right guess on the direction of the shot, but there was too much power behind Gallardo's strike as he slipped it just out of the reach of Caffaro to draw the match even at 1-1, forcing the game to overtime.
• Overtime
  • Despite playing down a man, MACU had the chance off a set piece in the 96^th minute as Palacios perfectly lofted a deep left-side cross to the head of Lucas Catosso in the middle of the box, but his header sailed over the crossbar for a Golden Eagles goal kick.
  • Two minutes later, JBU found the golden goal when Tebbs on a deep goal kick found the head of Atim Roper, which directed back toward Gabriel Cabrera breaking open down the right side. With Caffaro playing off his line, Cabrera chipped the game-winning shot over the keeper and into the back of the net with 2:03 remaining to seal the 2-1 defeat.

MATCH NOTES

• Both sides were tough on the defensive end with John Brown only holding a slight 8-7 advantage in total shots with a 5-3 edge in shots on-goal.
• The lone MACU goal for Federico Palacios marked his third goal of the season and the ninth of his Evangels career.
• Dante Caffaro suffered the defeat in-goal to fall to 6-3-2 despite facing some tough circumstances, allowing two goals and tallying three saves in the loss.
• The result marked the second time the Evangels lost at John Brown this season after the Golden Eagles came away with the 2-0 win at Alumni Field back on Nov. 7.
• The loss also snaps MACU's incredible run at competing in the SAC Championship match as the Evangels won't make the trip to the title tilt for the first time since 2019.

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will now await its postseason fate as the Evangels will need to receive an at-large bid to compete in the NAIA Tournament or potentially competing in the NCCAA Central Region Tournament. The NAIA Tournament selections will take place on Nov. 11 at 4 p.m. on the Urban Edge Network.