RedStorm's Cam Orellana named RSC Player of the Year; eight from Rio named All-RSC
Rio Grande/RSC Sports Information
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio – University of Rio Grande senior forward Benjamin Cam Orellana was named the River States Conference Men's Soccer Player of the Year, as well as its Offensive Player of the Year, and leads a list of eight RedStorm players named to the 2023 All-RSC Men's Soccer Teams.
The All-RSC First, Second & Third Team selections were determined through voting conducted by the league's head coaches and announced prior to last Saturday's RSC Championship final between the RedStorm and West Virginia University-Tech - the league's co-champions in the regular season.
A total of 42 players earned spots on the teams with four forwards, four midfielder, four defenders and two goalkeepers comprising the standard team.
A tie resulted in five forwards on the first team, three on the second team and four on the third team.
Cam Orellana, a native of Santiago, Chile, led the team - and the conference - in both assists (20) and points (46), while finishing second on the team and third in the league with 13 goals.
In addition to Cam Orellana, Rio Grande's first team selections also included Rio Grande senior forward Joe McInnes (Airdrie, Scotland), sophomore midfielder Altan Sayar (Kreuzlingen, Switzerland), freshman midfielder Tommy Munoz Salazar (San Jose, Costa Rica), junior defender Harry Walsh (Letchworth Garden City, England) and graduate senior goal keeper Matheus de Campos (Brasilia, Brazil).
McInnes led the RedStorm and ranked second in the league with 14 goals and was second on the team and third in the conference with 32 points.
Sayar was third on the team and fourth in the RSC with 12 goals, despite missing the final six games with a season-ending knee injury.
Munoz Salazar was fourth on the team and fifth in the conference with 10 goals, while Walsh and de Campos were part of one of the stingiest defenses in the country. de Campos had a league-best .806 save percentage and tied for the league lead with a 0.45 goals against average.
Rio Grande, which moved to 14-1-3 after a scoreless draw with Tech in the tournament title tilt, allowed one goal or less in 17 games and had 11 shutouts.
Sophomore midfielder Justin Jimenez (Alajuela, Costa Rica) was named to the All-RSC second team and graduate senior defender Julian Fally (Vienna, Austria) was a third team selection.
Jimenez had one goal and four assists, while Fally had five goals and five assists.
WVU Tech captured the remaining three individual awards with goalkeeper Ramon Ferrari earning Defensive Player of the Year honors, Vasco Berardo - a forward - being chosen RSC Newcomer of the Year, and head coach Oliver Hewitt-Fisher - himself a Rio Grande grad - voted by his peers as Coach of the Year.
Joining Rio's six players, Ferrari and Berardo on the first team was Shawnee State forward Matheus Camargo and Point Park forward Jaume Genovard; midfielders Phillipp Harder from Point Park and Joan Hernandez of WVU-Tech; and defenders Conrad Ryu Eriksson of WVU-Tech, Nikos Pontikis from Shawnee State and and Oakland City University's Ian Cowie.
The league also named a Champions of Character Team, in addition to its Scholar-Athlete Team.
The Champions of Character Team featured one honoree from each school who best exhibits the NAIA's five character values of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship.
Walsh served as Rio Grande's representative.
The Scholar-Athlete Team is made up of student-athletes with a 3.25 GPA or higher who have been at their institution at least one year earn the honor.
The RedStorm, who host Westcliff (Calif.) in the second round of the NAIA National Championship on Tuesday, placed de Campos, Sayar, McInnes, Orellana on the list along with seniors Vilius Labutis (Dublin Ireland), Oton Merin Torro (Concentaina, Spain) and Leonardo Gama (Salvador, Brazil); junior Santiago Blanco (Bucaramanga, Columbia); and the sophomore duo of Theo Silva (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Luis Jesse (Munich, Germany).