RedStorm to face Bryan in NAIA's Williamsburg Bracket

Rio Grande Sports Information
     KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The University of Rio Grande will square off with Bryan (Tenn.) College as part of the Williamsburg Bracket in the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship, Thursday afternoon, at 1 p.m. at the UC Soccer Complex in Williamsburg, Ky.
     The Rio Grande-Bryan winner will face bracket host University of the Cumberlands for the right to advance to the tourney's final site, December 2-9, at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kansas.
     The RedStorm punched their ticket to the tourney by defeating West Virginia University Tech, 3-0, in the championship game of the River States Conference tournament last Wednesday.
     Head coach Scott Morrissey's squad, which is making its 24th consecutive national tournament appearance - the longest such streak in the nation - has won 10 consecutive games since a 1-4-1 start to the season.
     Rio Grande, which placed seven players on the All-RSC teams, yet somehow had no major award winners, is led offensively by sophomore midfielder Rafael Kawata (Sao Paulo, Brazil), who has eight goals to go along with a team-best seven assists and 23 points.
     Senior Joe McInnes (Airdrie, Scotland) has a team-high 10 goals and seven game-winning scores, while freshmen Giorgos Mavris (Larnaca, Cyprus) and David Palade (Constanta, Romania) have netted six markers each.
     Defensively, the RedStorm has recorded seven straight shutouts and have allowed just two goals since snapping a five-game winless streak.
     Senior goalkeeper Matheus de Campos (Brasilia, Brazil) has 42 saves, a .750 save percentage and eight shutouts for the season.
     Bryan College is making its fourth appearance in the NAIA National Tournament and its first since 2013.
     The Lions (11-5-3) clinched an automatic berth to the national tourney by virtue of a 2-1 win over Truett-McConnell (Ga.) University in the championship game of the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament.
     Senior midfielder Cesar Castro leads a trio of offensive threats for BC with a team-high 11 goals, eight assists and 30 points.
     Sophomore forward David Gomez has nine goals and three assists for 21 points, while senior midfielder James Mitchell has seven goals and three assists for 17 points.
     Fifth-year senior goalkeeper Jack Smith has 102 saves and an .810 save percentage.
     Castro and Mitchell were both named to the All-AAC First Team.
     Cumberlands (13-2-2), which was ranked 10th in the final coaches' poll, earned its sixth consecutive bid to the NAIA Tournament and received an automatic qualifier after advancing on penalty kicks following a 1-1 tie with Lindsey Wilson College in the Mid-South Conference Tournament title game.
     The Patriots have four wins over ranked opponents this season - No. 8 University of Mobile (Ala.), No. 12 Keiser University (Fla.), No. 21 Georgia Gwinnett College and No. 14 Cumberland (Tenn.) University.
     UC also posted a 4-2 win over Rio Grande on Sept. 21 in Williamsburg.
     The Patriots are led offensively by the senior duo of forward Rodrigo Riveros and midfielder Salvador Martinez.
     Riveros has a team-high 12 goals and 29 points to go along with five assists, while Martinez has 10 goals, a team-best seven assists and 27 points.
     Senior winger Shuma Sasaki also had seven assists to go along with five goals and 17 points, while senior midfielder Mario Fernandez Garcia has three goals and six assists for 12 points.
     Junior goalkeeper Javiero Izquierdo Cuervo has 43 saves, a .683 save percentage and four shutouts.
     Live statistics and live video links for games involving Rio Grande can be found at www.rioredstorm.com.