Quick start sends men's soccer to overwhelming 4-0 win at MACU
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Sophomore Kelvin Omondi set a single-game season high with five points and three different players scored as the newly-minted No. 16 John Brown University men's soccer team ran away with a 4-0 victory at Mid-America Christian (Okla.) on Wednesday (Sept. 28) afternoon at the MACU Soccer Field.
The Golden Eagles (7-1-1, 1-0-0 SAC) poured it on in the opening minutes as Omondi tallied twice while sophomore Conner Haney and sophomore Ryan Williams each added a goal. Junior Adam Holt rejected seven saves in his fifth clean sheet of the season.
Mid-America Christian (2-6-0, 0-1-0) could barely begin the match before JBU posted a three-spot on the hosts. Williams opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a 25-yard bomb after senior Daniel Marulanda forced a turnover in the Evangel defensive zone. Marulanda then shot a pass up the middle to Williams, who cut into the middle and let go his fifth of the season for a quick 1-0 lead.
Not 50 seconds later, Omondi chipped in his first of two past MACU keeper Jakob O'Meara-Gill. Junior Steve Teshima started the play with an impressive rush that began before midfield. Sprinting all the way to to the top of the box past a trio of Evangel defenders, he sucked in the entire back line, leaving Omondi open on the left wing. Teshima slid a pass across which Omondi then chipped in over the omcoming O'Meara-Gill to double the visitors' lead.
Still within the first 10 minutes of play, John Brown pushed the lead to 3-0 when Haney deposited his seventh goal of the season. Omondi danced around a defender, drawing two more defenders and the keeper and calmly laid a pass into the middle to the oncoming Haney. Haney struck for his team-leading tally to put the game out of reach.
In the 20th minute, the scoring ended as Omondi tallied a near mirror-image goal of his first. Omondi's seventh of the season came off a MACU turnover which Williams quickly turned into a counter-attack. Racing between defenders, Williams laid a pass across the goalmouth to Omondi, who one-touched and chipped a shot again over O'Meara-Gill. It was Williams' fourth helper of the season.
While MACU narrowly out-shot John Brown 6-4 in the second half and 13-12 in the contest, the Golden Eagles held a 9-7 shot-on-goal advantage.
Since making its way into the top-25 of the NAIA National Coaches' Poll, John Brown is 2-0-0 and has outscored the opposition 8-0. Additionally, the Golden Eagles have surrendered just one goal against in its last 380 minutes of action.
"We came out flying today," head coach Scott Marksberry said. "When we sit in passing langes and counter with dynamic movement, we can be dificult to deal with. After the first 20 minutes, I think we settled into the game a little too much. We managed the match fairly well, but we went away from the things that make us unique.
"We are really glad, however, to start the conference season with three points.
O'Meara-Gill took the loss in goal for the Evangels (2-6-0, 0-1-0). Omondi and MACU's Gleydson Neri each had a game-best four shot attempts.
The Golden Eagles will now turn to Bacone (Okla.) in its next outing. The matchup with the Warriors will begin at 1 p.m. in Muskogee, Okla. on Saturday (Oct. 1).
