Warriors oust Rio men from NAIA tourney

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Westcliff (Calif.) University netted goals in each overtime period en route to a 3-1 upset win over the University of Rio Grande in the second round of the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship, Saturday afternoon, at Evan E. Davis Field.
     The 13th-ranked Warriors, who were making their first-ever appearance in the national tournament, improved to 18-1 with the victory and advanced to the Round of 16 at the tourney's final site in Wichita, Kan. to face defending national champion Bethel on Nov. 28.
     Rio Grande, ranked No. 6 in the final regular season NAIA Coaches' Top 25 poll and seeded 11th in the national tourney, finished its season at 14-2-3 with the loss.
     Westcliff snapped a scoreless tie when Wissem Obeid found the back of the net off of a touch from Quentin Hornung with 28:01 left in regulation, but the RedStorm tied the game just under 3-1/2 minutes later when senior Benjamin Cam Orellana (Santiago, Chile) scored off of a crossing pass from freshman Rafael Kawata (Sao Paulo, Brazil).
     That's how things stayed throughout the remainder of regulation play, sending the match into the first of two, 10-minute overtime periods.
     The Warriors snapped the tie just under five minutes into the first extra session when John Adekunle dribbled in from the right side of the 18-yard box and found teammate Martin Slatsve in front of the goal for the go-ahead score.
     Westcliff then sealed the victory with 2:00 remaining in the second OT when Jordan Di Lonardo scored on a penalty kick.
     The Warriors finished with a 13-12 advantage in overall shots and a 7-5 edge in shots on frame, outshooting Rio 4-0 in the overtime periods.
     The visitors also finished with an 8-6 edge in corner kick opportunities, including a 7-3 cushion after halftime.
     Noah Schwengeler recorded four saves in the win for Westlciff, including a brilliant stop of a penalty kick by Cam Orellana with 15:16 left in the first half.
     Graduate senior keeper Matheus de Campos (Brasilia, Brazil) had four saves in a losing cause for the RedStorm.
     The match - the first-ever meeting between the two schools - was physical and, at times, chippy.
     The two teams were whistled for 34 combined fouls - 18 against Rio Grande and 16 against the Warriors - and the officiating crew issued a whopping 21 yellow card cautions and one red card disqualification. Ten of the yellows and the one red were against Rio Grande.