Rio women survive wild finish, nip Bearcats

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Senior Day games always tend to be emotional and/or memorable - one way or the other - particularly for those who are being honored.
     On Saturday afternoon, it was a Senior Day for the University of Rio Grande women's soccer team that almost became memorable for all the wrong reasons.
     Almost.
     The RedStorm endured a frantic final second finish to hang on for a 1-0 win over Brescia University in River States Conference action at Evan E. Davis Field.
     Rio Grande ran its record to 6-4-1 overall and 3-0-1 in league play with the victory.
     The Bearcats slipped to 3-6 overall and 1-1 in the RSC as a result of the loss.
     Rio grabbed a 1-0 lead just over 22 minutes into the match when junior Madison McKenzie (Tipp City, OH) played a ball from the right side of the 18-yard box to junior Jitske De Muijnk (Nymegen, The Netherlands), who lofted an airborne side kick from the top of the box over the head of Brescia goalkeeper Ashby Greenwell and into the back of the net.
     And while the RedStorm enjoyed a commanding 16-8 edge in overall shots for the contest, including 7-5 in shots on frame, they were unable to add an insurance marker which could've rendered the game's dramatic closing seconds a moot point.
     The Bearcats regained possession of the ball nearly 3/4 the length of the field away from the Rio goal with only 15 seconds left to play, yet somehow managed to work the ball up the field and get off a shot by Ashley Taylor just as time expired.
     The ball found its way into the net and the visitors began to celebrate their apparent dramatic game-tying marker, but game officials waved off the score because the ball had yet to cross the goal line on its way into the net before the clock hit 0:00 and Rio had the win.
     Senior Alba Vilades Marin (Barcelona, Spain) - one of the six RedStorm players honored in pre-game ceremonies - had five saves en route to a third shutout in the last four outings.
     Greenwell stopped six shots in a losing cause for Brescia.
     Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Thursday afternoon at Indiana University-Columbus. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m.