The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced its 2022 men's soccer All-America Teams on Thursday and for the first time ever, the Mid-America Christian men's soccer team had four players selected to the respective teams while another three garnered honorable mention acclaim.
Senior defender Mason Gonzalez earned the highest honor by being tabbed to the First Team, sophomore goalkeeper Jeremi Abonnel was tabbed to the Second Team and both graduate student forward Rodrigo Albuquerque and freshman midfielder Diego Real garnered Third Team accolades.
The three Evangels that received Honorable Mention acclaim were the Ferreira brothers, sophomore forward Ricardo Ferreira sophomore midfielder Rodrigo Ferreira, as well as junior center-back Ricardo Sepulveda.
The National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) also announced its 2022 All-America Teams on Wednesday as Abonnel, Albuquerque, Gonzalez and Real earned First Team accolades while Ricardo Ferreira was selected to the Second Team.
In his third season with the Evangels, Gonzalez provided a major scoring threat from the defensive wing position, scoring seven goals, including three game-winners, along with dishing out two assists for 16 points. At the conclusion of the season, the Fresno, Calif. product was selected as the Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Gonzalez netted big goals for the Evangels all season, but his biggest came on Oct. 25 when he headed in the game-winner in the 81st minute to propel the Evangels to a 3-2 victory over Southwestern Christian to lock up the SAC regular season title.
The two-time SAC Goalkeeper of the Year, Abonnel put up astonishing numbers in his second season with the program. Wrapping up the year with an 18-1-2 record in-goal, Abonnel pitched the second-lowest goals allowed average in the NAIA at 0.44, a program-record low in net. Over the course of the season, the Aix-en-Provence, France product recorded 49 saves for an .845 save percentage, the second-best stoppage rate in a single season in program history. Abonnel also pitched 12 shutouts, ranking as the second-most in the NAIA and the second-most in MACU's single-season record book.
Gonzalez and Abonnel were also selected to the United Soccer Coaches NAIA All-America First and Second Team respectively.
Earning his second NAIA All-America honor, Albuquerque put together another outstanding offensive season the Evangels' top striker. Despite missing a month of the season due to a hamstring injury, the Recife, Brazil product was still MACU's top scorer, netting 14 goals, four of which were game-winners and dished out four assists for 32 points in just 17 games. Albuquerque came up big for the Evangels in the postseason as he netted a pair of goals, including the game-winning penalty kick with 23 seconds left in overtime in a 2-1 win over Bellevue (Neb.) in the NAIA Tournament First Round match before scoring an incredible half-volley winner in the 80th minute of a 2-0 victory over No. 17 Oklahoma Wesleyan in the second round match.
Overall, Albuquerque wraps up his four-year MACU career as the program's all-time leading scorer, netting 61 goals and dishing out 23 assists for 148 points while also setting the program record for shots (353), shots on-goal (175) and game-winning goals (23). It is the third time that Albuquerque is receiving postseason recognition from the NAIA after earning Third Team honors last season and was an honorable mention selection during the 2020-21 campaign.
In his first season with the Evangels, Real was an incredible ball-handling presence for the Evangels in the midfield. The highly regarded Benaguasil, Spain native posted the second-most assists in a single season in program history, finishing just one back of teammate Cesar Ramirez (2021) and matched another teammate in Rodrigo Ferreira (2021) on the books. Real's biggest contributions came in the SAC Championship match against Science & Arts as he tallied a pair of assists in a 3-0 victory at the Dill Soccer Field on Nov. 11, helping lead the Evangels to their fourth SAC tourney title.
Earning his first honorable mention selection, Ricardo Ferreira was one the Evangels offensive leaders, recording his first double-digit goal season with 11 to go along with for dimes for 26 points. The Espinho, Portugal product netted clutch goals for MACU all season as he led the team with five game-winners with his biggest coming in the 87th minute in a 1-0 victory over John Brown (Ark.) in the SAC Semifinal on Nov. 8.
Even though he has been with the program for just two seasons, Ferreira has already cemented himself in MACU's career record books as his 18 goals is currently tied for the fifth-most in the books while his 48 points matches his current coach Allan Sorato (2018-19) for the fourth-highest mark.
His brother, Rodrigo Ferreira also earned an honorable mention nod for his stellar work in the MACU midfield. Even though he scored just one goal and dished out four assists, Ferreira was a challenging presence for the opposition with his stellar passing, ball-handling skills and lockdown defense while also being MACU's primary free kick specialist.
Ferreira has also been making his mark in the MACU record books as his 15 assists currently places him alongside MACU Team of the Decade honoree Willy Deleon (2009-12) for the fourth-most dimes.
Rounding out the honorees, Sepulveda was an incredible defensive presence in earning SAC Defender of the Year honors. The Puente Alto, Chile native was the heartbeat of a MACU defense that allowed just 0.47 goals per game, the third-lowest rate in the entire NAIA while the team also pitched 15 shutouts, leading the entire NAIA in that category. Sepulveda logged the most minutes on the team with 1912, the sixth-most of any MACU player since joining the NAIA in 2007.
Mid-America Christian wrapped up the 2022 season with a 19-2-1 overall record while winning both the Sooner Athletic Conference regular season (7-0-2) and tournament titles. The Evangels also advanced the farthest it ever had in NAIA Tournament postseason play as MACU made it all the way to the Quarterfinal round after defeating Bellevue (Neb.) 2-1 in overtime in its first round match while topping No. 17 Oklahoma Wesleyan 2-0 in the second round.
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