Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
Rafael Kawata (upper left) headlined Rio Grande's All-RSC Men's Soccer selections. Also earning first team kudos were Joe McInnes (top middle), Matheus de Campos (top right), Diego Martinez (lower left) and Dan Baldwin (bottom left middle). Harry Walsh (bottom right middle) and Scott Gray (lower right) were Second Team picks.
Rafael Kawata (upper left) headlined Rio Grande's All-RSC Men's Soccer selections. Also earning first team kudos were Joe McInnes (top middle), Matheus de Campos (top right), Diego Martinez (lower left) and Dan Baldwin (bottom left middle). Harry Walsh (bottom right middle) and Scott Gray (lower right) were Second Team picks.
Posted: Nov 06, 2024

Rio men well-represented on All-RSC squad

Rio Grande/RSC Sports Information
     MIDDLETOWN, Ohio - Seven players from regular season champion University of Rio Grande have been named to the 2024 River States Conference Men's Soccer All-Conference Teams.
     The three all-league units, along with major award winners, were announced Wednesday by the conference office.
     Each team, consisting of two goalkeepers, four defenders, four midfielders, and four forwards, were selected via a vote of conference head coaches.
     Rio Grande, which allowed just two goals en route to a perfect mark in RSC play, had five first team honorees and a pair of second team selections.
     However, somewhat surprisingly, the RedStorm failed to win any of the league's major awards.
     WVU Tech followed Rio Grande with four first team selections, also placing seven players on the team overall.
     Oakland City led all teams in overall selections with 10 - three on the first team, four on the second team, and three more on the third team. Players from St. Mary-of-the-Woods and Brescia rounded out the first team, and all nine conference teams placed at least one player on the All-Conference teams.
     The first team selections from Rio included senior goalkeeper Matheus de Campos (Brasilia, Brazil), freshman defender Dan Baldwin (Warwick, England), midfielders Rafael Kawata and Diego Martinez and senior forward Joe McInnes (Airdrie, Scotland).
     Representing the RedStorm on the second team were a pair of senior defenders in Scott Gray (Strathaven, Scotland) and Harry Walsh (Letchworth Garden City, England).
     Kawata, a sophomore from Sao Paulo, Brazil leads Rio Grande in both assists (7) and points (23), while ranking second in goals scored (8).
     McInnes has a team- and conference-best 10 goals - including seven game-winners - and ranks second on the RedStorm with 21 points, while Martinez - a senior from Santiago, Chile - has three goals and two assists.
     Baldwin, Gray and Walsh form a defensive back line which has limited the opposition to just 18 goals all season, while de Campos has 42 saves, a .750 save percentage and seven shutouts.
     In addition to the Rio Grande contingent, the remainder of the first team included WVU-Tech Luka Felix; defenders Taiwo Anifowose of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Ian Cowie from Oakland City and WVU-Tech's Julian Diaz; midfielders Joan Hernandez from WVU Tech and Marc Robertson of Oakland City; and forwards Pablo Herrero from Oakland City, Katai Mukuka of Brescia and Christian Piewe from WVU Tech.
     Gray and Walsh were joined on the second team by goalkeepers Eric Green of Shawnee State and Jacob Robinson from Oakland City; defenders Guilherme Bitencourt and Nikos Pontikis of Shawnee State, Drake Dickens from Oakland City and WVU-Tech's Nicholas Ihnat; midfielders Jared Bastin from Midway, Marc Hernandez of WVU Tech and the Oakland City duo of Willem Hulsebosch and Ross O'Brien; and forwards Jon Michael Bright of IU Columbus, Ollie Corris from WVU Tech, Ivan Gelado from St. Mary-of-the-Woods and Cameron Thompson of Shawnee State.
     The All-RSC Third Team included goalkeepers Peter Lamprou from IU East and Connor Vincent of Midway; defender Eduardo Cordova from IU Columbus and Dwight Savoury of Oakland City; midfielders Noah Backhaus of IU East, João Coqueti Léo from Shawnee State, Kevin Cruz of IU Columbus and Jaime Gayol from St. Mary-of-the-Woods; and forwards Adam Dimba and Evan Reape from Oakland City, Théo Cavaleiro Trindade of Shawnee State and IU East's Tristan Thomas.
     Mukuka was considered the top player in the league by the RSC coaches, winning Newcomer, Offensive Player, and overall Player of the Year honors.
     The freshman from Zambia scored six goals in his first season with the Bearcats of Brescia. The freshman found his groove at the end of the season, scoring a goal in four of Brescia's final five matches, all of which came in River States Conference play.
     Felix was the coaches' selection as the RSC Defensive Player of the Year. The junior from Portugal was one of the hardest goalkeepers in the conference to score on, posting a 1.06 goals against average across 15 matches.
     Felix stopped 39 shots on the season, turning away nearly 74 percent of the shots he faced, and helped WVU Tech to a third place finish and a 6-2 record in RSC play.
     Oakland City University's Adam Sell led his alma mater to a top-two finish in the conference, earning Coach of the Year honors. In his third season as the head coach of the Mighty Oaks, OCU finished with a 6-1-1 record in RSC play, and played for the regular season title on the final day of the regular season.