November2, 2009

RedStorm women close out regular season with a loss

Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm women's soccer team closed out the regular season at home on Monday evening against West Virginia Tech. The RedStorm dropped a 2-0 decision and ended the Mid-South Conference season winless.

Rio Grande (1-15-1, 0-7 MSC) was not able to capitalize on the opportunities presented to them throughout the game while WVU Tech (8-5-3, 4-2-1 MSC) scored two goals late in the first half and held on for the win.

The Golden Bears scored in 34^th minute on a penalty kick from Bailey Scherbak and as it turned out that would be the only score the visitors would need. 

Shaniece Thorpe added an insurance goal three minutes later and the scoring was done.

Rio Grande freshman goalkeeper Kaitlyn Schultz (Plain City, OH) notched seven saves while Andrea Arias stopped all four Rio shots on goal.

Rio falls to 2-1 lifetime against WVU Tech. 

Rio Grande head coach Amber Oliver said that her team played well but was just not able to take advantage of their scoring chances. "We weren't really disappointed with the way the girls played, they played well, they played simple ball that we've been asking them to play all season long," Oliver said. "We just made two mistakes and they were able to capitalize on those and we weren't able to capitalize on theirs."

"We felt that a lot of the players stepped up today and did the things that we asked them to do," Oliver added. "We hope to build on that going into the tournament."

Rio Grande will experience the post-season for the first time as the Mid-South Conference Tournament commences on Friday (November 6) with the RedStorm facing regular season champ and NAIA No. 1 Lindsey Wilson. LWC defeated Rio Grande 11-0 in the regular season match on October 15.

The kick-off for the game on Friday has not been determined at this time.