PLAINVIEW, Texas – The MACU Men's Soccer team managed to put up one of their best attacking matches of the season in Plainview, Texas on Tuesday night, but the Evangels struggled to find the winning finish in the second half as the Evangels and Wayland Baptist played to a 1-all draw.
 
SCORE

• Mid-America Christian 1, Wayland Baptist 1
  • Mid-America Christian (2-5-4, 0-0-2 SAC)
  • Wayland Baptist (4-2-1, 1-0-1 SAC)

SCORING SUMMARY

• 1^st Half – MACU – 11:58 – Goal: Ryan Jeanfreau (5) – MACU 1, WBU 0
• 2^nd Half – WBU – 57:00 – Goal: Francis Motsi (6), Assist: Victor Herrera – MACU 1, WBU 1

MATCH SUMMARY

• First Half
  • Mid-America Christian put on a barrage of shots early in the first half, attempting four shots in the first 11:08 with three on-goal attempts coming from Ryan Jeanfreau and a pair by Haruya Higuchi. However, WBU goalkeeper Alex Neri came up with three saves to keep the Evangels off the board.
  • Neri wasn't able to keep MACU off for much longer as a foul in the box at the 11:58 mark set up Jeanfreau for a penalty kick goal, as his attempt found the back of the net to make it an early 1-0 Evangels lead.
  • The Pioneers weren't able to muster a shot until the 14^th minute on Renato Katrip's try, but Dante Caffaro made the save to keep the MACU lead intact.
  • Both teams settled in defensively over the next 20 minutes before Ayden Thompson managed to get a shot on-frame in the 37^th minute that was stopped by Neri.
  • Neither team was able to muster a shot on-goal over the final eight minutes as the Evangels took their 1-0 advantage into the halftime break.
• Second Half
  • Mid-America Christian had a great chance to add a second score in the 55^th minute when Federico Palacios got the ball back shortly after taking his own corner kick, however his attempt on-frame went off the crossbar.
  • Unfortunately, MACU lost its lead just moments later when the reigning SAC Offensive Player of the Week Francis Motsi netted the equalizer off the Victor Herrera assist to make it a 1-1 game in the 57^th minute.
  • The Pioneers had two chances to take the lead immediately following the goal score off the foot of their top striker Jamol Williams in the 59^th and 64^th minutes, but Caffaro once again came up with a pair of huge saves.
  • Mid-America Christian countered with a great goal scoring chance of its own in the 66^th minute off a Palacios corner that found the head of Necsar Rojas, but Neri came up with a huge save to knock the ball out and force another MACU corner.
  • After Caffaro came up with two more saves on potential go-ahead shots from Aaron Debus and Maximiliano Campos in the 67^th and 75^th minutes, WBU's Neri also came up with a save on Jeanfreau's go-ahead try in the 82^nd minute to keep it a 1-1 game.
  • Wayland Baptist did have one last dangerous chance in the 87^th minute off a Motsi corner, but Dario Catalan's shot attempt sailed high as neither team was able to get another shot off over the final three minutes with the contest ending in a 1-1 draw.

MATCH NOTES

• Despite struggling to find the back of the net, Mid-America Christian did put together one of their better offensive performances of the season as the Evangels out-shot Wayland Baptist 16-10 with an 8-6 margin in shots on-goal. It was the second-most shot attempts MACU attempted in a match this season with the eight on-goal tries being a season-high.
• Ryan Jeanfreau continued to add to his team-lead in goal-scoring with his fifth of the season on the first half penalty.
• Jeanfreau was one of MACU's offensive leaders for the match as a whole as he led the team with three shots on-goal while Haruya Higuchi managed to put a pair on-frame. Federico Palacios led the team in shot attempts with four on the evening.
• Freshman goalkeeper Dante Caffaro has continued to be a steady presence for MACU in-goal, as he moved to 1-0-2 in-net after conceding only one goal to the Sooner Athletic Conference's best scoring team and tallied five saves for an .833 save percentage.
• The MACU defense as a whole was fundamentally sound in holding the high-scoring Pioneers to their second-lowest shooting output of the season with 10 shots with the second-fewest on-goal at six. The only team to hold WBU to fewer shots (9) and shots on-goal (1) were NCAA Division II Texas-Dallas in a 5-1 result on Aug. 30.
• Since the two teams started playing each other in 2009, the result marked the first ever tie between the two teams and while the result did snap MACU's 10-game win streak over Wayland, MACU still remains unbeaten to the Pioneers in the last 11 matches.

UP NEXT

• After playing its first two SAC matches on the road, Mid-America Christian will continue its hunt for its first SAC win at home on Saturday as the Evangels now prepare to host Science & Arts for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at the Dill Soccer Field.