RedStorm rallies, bounces Bears in title tilt

Rio Grande Sports Information
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Seniors Heitor de Melo and Pau Delgado Rodriguez each scored second half goals as the University of Rio Grande rallied from an early deficit for a 2-1 win over West Virginia University-Tech, Saturday night, in the championship game of the River States Conference Men's Soccer Tournament at Evan E. Davis Field.
The top-seeded RedStorm, who entered play ranked No. 3 nationally, improved to 18-1-1 with the victory, while earning an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament as the RSC champion in the process.

WVU-Tech, which was seeded No. 2 in the tourney bracket and ranked ninth nationally, slipped to 16-2-2 with the loss.
Still, the Golden Bears are expected to receive an at-large bid to the national tournament, which begins next Saturday at 15 campus sites. Pairings will be announced Monday afternoon.
Tech grabbed a 1-0 lead just under 26 minutes into the match when Francisco Neto gathered in a pass from Daniel Ramirez on a surge up the left side of the pitch and pushed a shot past Rio sophomore net-minder Ben Martinez (Montpellier, France).
That's how things stayed until de Melo - a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil - headed in a corner kick opportunity by senior Jeremy de Hoog (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) for the equalizer just 6:53 into the second stanza.
Rodriguez, a senior from Barcelona, Spain, sent the RedStorm in front a little less than 10 minutes later, heading in a crossing pass from junior Joao Paulo Antonio (Sao Paulo, Brazil) from the left wing for what proved to be the game-winner.
Rio Grande, which played the Golden Bears to a 1-1 tie in the regular season meeting between the two squads last month in Beckley, W.Va., finished with a 16-5 edge in shots, including a 6-2 advantage in shots on target. The RedStorm had a 9-5 cushion in corner kick attempts.
Martinez had one save in the winning effort for Rio Grande.
Hunter Moles stopped four shots in the loss for WVU-Tech.