Rio women, IU East play to scoreless draw

Rio Grande Sports Information
     EATON, Ohio - While it wasn't a loss, it also wasn't the outcome that the University of Rio Grande was looking for.
     The RedStorm battled Indiana University East to a scoreless draw, Saturday afternoon, in River States Conference women's soccer action played at Eaton High School.
Rio Grande finished the day at 8-5-3 overall and 5-0-3 inside the RSC.
     The tie also denied head coach Brooke Perkins' team the chance to draw within one point of Oakland City University for the top spot in the conference standings with one week of regular season play remaining.
     The Mighty Oaks sport a 7-0 record and 21 points in conference's system toward determining playoff seeding. Teams receive three points for each RSC victory and one for a tie.
     Rio Grande's five wins and three ties are worth 18 points, meaning the RedStorm's only chance to claim the RSC regular season championship would require IU East (4-7-4 overall, 4-1-2 RSC) to defeat Oakland City on Thursday night and Rio Grande to do the same in Saturday's regular season finale between the two teams at Evan E. Davis Field.
     Should that happen, the RedStorm and the Mighty Oaks would both finish with 21 points, but Rio would get the top seed and home field throughout the upcoming conference tournament based on its head-to-head win.
     However, if Oakland City defeats IU East on Thursday, the Mighty Oaks clinch the No. 1 seed regardless of Saturday's result against Rio.
     The RedStorm actually could slip to a No. 3 seed if they lose to Oakland City and IU East defeats the Oaks on Thursday and takes down Midway in its regular season finale on Saturday.
     The top two teams in the standings receive a bye into the semifinal round of the RSC Championship on Saturday, Nov. 9, while seeds 3-6 will play in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday, Nov. 6.
     All games in the tourney, which concludes with the final on Nov. 13, will be played at the site of the higher seeded team.
     Rio Grande and IU East combined for just 12 shots in the contest, only five of which were on frame - three for Rio and two for IUE. Rio was also responsible for all three corner kick tries in the match.
     The RedStorm appeared to take a 1-0 lead with 5:25 left in the contest on a goal by Morgan Fannin, but game officials waved off the score - presumably incorrectly - for a foul that was whistled against the Red Wolves behind the play, despite the fact the action should've been allowed to continue because the hosts failed to gain possession of the ball and earn an advantage after committing the infraction.
     Senior Alba Vilades Marin (Barcelona, Spain) recorded a pair of saves in net for Rio Grande.
     IU East net-minder Kylie O'Leary had three saves.
     Kickoff for Rio's regular season finale against Oakland City on Saturday is set for 3 p.m.