Red Wolves oust RedStorm in RSC semifinals

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - A return to the River States Conference Women's Soccer Championship game for the University of Rio Grande was derailed by one bad pass.
     Third-seeded Indiana University East parlayed a RedStorm turnover into a goal and an eventual 1-0 win, Saturday afternoon, in the semifinal round of the conference tournament at Evan E. Davis Field.
     The Red Wolves improved to 7-8-4 with the victory and advanced to Wednesday's title game against top-seeded Oakland City University.
     Rio Grande, the tourney's No. 2 seed, saw its season end at 8-7-3 as a result of the loss.
     The RedStorm controlled the match throughout, finishing with a 13-5 advantage in overall shots and a 6-2 edge in shots on frame.
     Head coach Brooke Perkins' team also was responsible for three of the five corner kick opportunities on the day.
     But the game's final outcome was ultimately determined by a single first half miscue.
     IU East's Zaryah Griffin intercepted a Rio pass near midfield, then sent a crossing pass to the right sideline where Kenzie Chance collected the ball and lofted a long-range shot which cleared the head of Rio senior keeper Alba Vilades Marin (Barcelona, Spain) for what proved to be the game's lone marker with 19:10 remaining before halftime.
     The goal came just under two minutes after the RedStorm's best scoring chance of the day when senior Xenia Molina's (Barcelona, Spain) shot from the top of the 18-yard box - directly in front of the goal - sailed high.
     Rio Grande had five of its six shots on goal after the Red Wolves' goal, but was unable to net the equalizer.
     Kylie O'Leary had six saves in a clean sheet effort for IU East, which played Rio to a scoreless draw in their regular season meeting.
     Vilades Marin had one save in a losing cause for the RedStorm.