South OKC News

The No. 1 seed MACU men's soccer team had some great chances in a battle of two of the hottest teams in the NAIA, but the Evangels came up just short in a 2-1 loss to No. 9 seed Rio Grande (Ohio) at the Jack Allen Soccer Complex on Thursday afternoon.

 

SCORING SUMMARY

• 2nd Half – URG – 73:17 – Goal: Vilius Labutis (17), Assist: Charlie Chechlacz – URG 1, MACU 0
• 2nd Half – URG – 75:38 – Goal: Charlie Chechlacz (6), Assist: Diego Montenegro – URG 2, MACU 0
• 2nd Half – MACU – 88:01 – Goal: Luan Cesar (5) – URG 2, MACU 1

MATCH SUMMARY

• Mid-America Christian had some good opportunities early as Rodrigo Albuquerque was able to get open for a 19-yarder from the left side of the box, but pushed his shot just wide left in the 13th minute.
• Just a minute later, MACU had one of its best chances of the match when Ricardo Ferreira intercepted a cross in the midfield before delivering an open pass to Jack Price breaking into the right side of the box. However, Rio Grande goalkeeper Daniel Merino Correa made a stellar sliding save on Price's slip shot attempt toward the left side, keeping the match scoreless.
• With just over 11 minutes left in the first half, the Evangels had their greatest opportunity of the match. After Fabian Forisch dished a pass to Ridwane Boukraa breaking down the right side, his cross back into the box found Luan Cesar open from eight-yards out, but he pushed the shot off the bounce just wide of the right post.
• Rio Grande had the last chance on-goal in the first half with three minutes left off a MACU turnover, but Sven van den Oever was easily able to scoop up Dean Brenzenger's header shot toward the right post to send the game into half scoreless.
• The Evangels had the first great look at a go-ahead goal in the second half when Ricardo Sepulveda was finally able to come up with possession following a couple of headers following a Rodrigo Ferreira corner kick, but Correa made a great reaction toward Sepulveda's blast right at him in the middle of the box.
• Rio Grande took the only lead of the match in the 74th minute. After Charlie Chechlacz dribbled around Uviwe Qasha and then lofted a floating cross toward the left post. Dante Luz chested the cross down initially but Vilius Labutis stepped around Luz and fired in the 10-yarder inside the left post before van den Oever could collapse on the play to give the Red Storm the 1-nil advantage.
• Two minutes later, URG was able to gain a huge advantage with its second goal of the match. After Diego Montenegro was able inexplicably tackle the ball away in the midfield while spinning the ball away from a MACU defender on the ground, Montenegro fed the ball ahead to Chechlacz while laying on the turf. From 38-yards out, Chechlacz lofted a deep shot that barely sailed underneath the left side of the crossbar to make it a 2-0 game.
• The Evangels were able to cut into the deficit with just under two minutes remaining. After MACU switched it over to the right side of the midfield for Kelt Jager, he delivered a stellar deep ball that one-hopped to Luan Cesar. After chesting the ball down and taking a dribble to his right, he redirected a low skidding 10-yard shot toward the left post that snuck its way in past the diving keeper to close it to 2-1.
• With 1:24 remaining, the Evangels had one last great look at an equalizer. After Rodrigo Ferreira launched a stellar free kick ball into the box, Rodrigo Albuquerque headed it ahead to Ricardo Ferreira, who was able to knock the ball toward Jager wide open on the left side of the box. However, Jager slightly rushed the 10-yard blast as his attempt sailed over the crossbar to ultimately ending MACU's season with the 2-1 defeat.

MATCH NOTES

• Despite the tough result, Mid-America Christian was able to hold the nation's top offense in Rio Grande to only nine shots with four landing on-goal while the Evangels attempted 14 shots and placed five on-target.
• Playing his final game with MACU, graduate student forward Luan Cesar netted his 19th career goal to move alone into fifth on MACU's all-time goal scoring records list.
• Cesar along with Rodrigo Albuquerque led the MACU offensive efforts with three shots apiece while Cesar placed two of his attempts on-target.
• Sven van den Oever suffered the defeat in-goal in his final match with Mid-America Christian after conceding a pair of goals and tallied a pair of saves.
• The loss for the Evangels ends their longest NAIA Tournament run in program history as MACU's season ends with a with a 19-2-2 overall record. The loss snapped MACU's 18-match undefeated streak. Rio Grande will advance to play Bethel (Ind.) in the semifinal round by improving to 18-3-2 on the season.
• The match marked the last for 12 graduating seniors. Included in that group is Albuquerque, who ends his MACU career as the program's all-time leading scorer with 61 career goals, 27 assists and 149 points.
• Another distinguished senior playing in his last match included Mason Gonzalez, who wrapped up his MACU career as the 2022 SAC Player of the Year while scoring 16 career goals in three seasons as a member of the Evangels.
• Mid-America Christian reached new heights as a program in 2022, which included being ranked first in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll for the first time in the team's illustrious history while also earning the program's first ever No. 1 seed at the NAIA National Championship Tournament. The Evangels also got to host its first ever NAIA Tournament regional, advancing to the final site with a pair of wins against Bellevue (2-1) and No. 17 Oklahoma Wesleyan (2-0).

Original source can be found here