Golden Bears top Rio in RSC title game

Rio Grande Sports Information
     BECKLEY, W.Va. - It was a battle that was fit for a championship contest.
     Unfortunately, when the final buzzer sounded, the University of Rio Grande found itself on the short end of the scoreboard.
     Top-seeded West Virginia University-Tech netted a goal in each half and then held off a furious comeback effort by the No. 2 seed RedStorm for a 2-1 win in the River States Conference Men's Soccer Championship final, Wednesday night, at the YMCA/Paul Cline Soccer Complex.
     The Golden Bears, ranked 15th in the latest NAIA coaches' poll, improved 16-0-2 with the victory and earned the league's automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship, which begins November 20 on campus sites across the country.
     Rio Grande, which was ranked 23rd in the same poll, fell to 11-5-3 with the loss and now is forced to wait to see if it earns an at-large bid to the national tourney.
     The field will be announced on the NAIA's You Tube page on Friday at 6 p.m. EDT.
     The RedStorm enjoyed an 18-10 advantage in overall shots and a commanding 16-4 cushion in shots on frame, but failed to get on the scoreboard until freshman Facundo Rossich (Buenos Aires, Argentina) scored off of a pass from junior Luke Tinkler (Nottingham, England) with exactly 14 minutes left in the contest.
     By that point, though, WVU-Tech had built a 2-0 lead.
     Julen Recalde broke the scoreless tie with a goal via a touch from Gonzalo Sabeh with 13:41 remaining in the first half, while Hugo Roman netted an unassisted marker with 21:25 left in the game.
     Rio Grande, which also had 13 of the game's 15 corner kick opportunities, managed three shots on goal in the final 12-1/2 minutes, but was turned away by Tech net-minder Luka Felix on each occasion.
     Felix was credited with eight saves in the win
     Freshman Samy Hamou (Paris, France) had two stops in goal for the RedStorm.