Rio men blank Brescia, stay perfect in league play

Rio Grande Sports Information
     OWENSBORO, Ky. - Three different players scored second half goals and the University of Rio Grande remained perfect against league foes with a 3-0 triumph over Brescia University, Saturday afternoon, in River States Conference men's soccer action at Kamuf Park.
     Rio Grande, ranked No. 9 in the latest NAIA Coaches' Top 25 poll, ran its record to 9-1-1 overall and 6-0 in the RSC with the victory.
     Brescia dropped to 1-11-0 overall and 1-4-0 in league play.
     The Bearcats, like other Rio opponents before them, elected to force the RedStorm to try and score through a defensive alignment which had all 11 defenders on one end of the field.
     The plan worked for a while, with the first half ending scoreless despite Rio Grande enjoying a 10-1 advantage in overall shots.
     The RedStorm finally broke the ice, though, when freshman Tommy Munoz Salazar (San Jose, Costa Rica) found the back of the net via a touch by senior teammate Benjamin Cam Orellana (Santiago, Chile) with 28:55 left to play.
     That score stood until Rio scored twice more down the stretch in a span of just over two minutes.
     Sophomore Altan Sayar (Kreuzlingen, Switzerland) made it 2-0 with 6:22 remaining in the contest and a goal by senior Joe McInnes (Airdrie, Scotland) with 4:09 left set the final score. Freshman Lucas O'Donnell (Leeds, England) was credited with an assist on both markers.
     The RedStorm finished with a 26-3 cushion in shots overall and a 10-2 edge in shots on frame. They also were responsible for 11 of the 14 corner kick opportunities over the course of the match.
     Graduate senior keeper Matheus de Campos (Brasilia, Brazil) had two stops en route to a clean sheet effort in goal for Rio.
     Brescia net-minder Finn Martin was credited with seven saves in a losing cause.
     Rio Grande returns to action on Thursday night when it travels south to Beckley, W.Va. to face long-time rival West Virginia University-Tech - one of two other teams currently unbeaten in RSC play.
     Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at the YMCA Paul Cline Memorial Sports Complex.