Rio women equal school record in rout of Knights

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Prior to Thursday night, Kentucky Christian University's last trip to Evan E. Davis Field for women's soccer ended in a record-setting night for the host University of Rio Grande.
     And while the faces and the names changed over the past 12 years, the script certainly didn't.
     Rio Grande equaled a program record for goals in a game and established a new single-game record for shot attempts in a 16-0 rout of the under-manned Knights in River States Conference action.
     The RedStorm improved to 8-4-5 overall and 6-2-1 in league play with the win.
     Head coach Brooke Perkins' team tied the program's single-game scoring record which was set, ironically enough, in KCU's last visit to the venue - a 16-0 win on Sept. 11, 2013.
     Rio Grande also set a single-game school record for shot attempts with 69 - 30 in the opening half and 39 more after the intermission.
     Kentucky Christian, which dropped to 1-14 overall and 0-9 in the RSC as a result of the loss, found itself in a bit of a predicament before the game ever began, arriving with just 10 active players on their roster.
     Things only got worse for head coach Joshua Miller's squad when one of the 10 - goalkeeper Abigayle Moore - fell ill en route and never got off the bus once pulling into the venue.
     Another player went down with an ankle injury midway through the second half, forcing the Knights to finish with seven players in the field and makeshift net-minder Liliana Roberts.
     Rio Grande countered by substituting liberally in both halves and, in the second stanza, electing to pull one of its field players off the pitch.
     Still, it made little difference.
     Senior Carmen Morris (Lancaster, OH) and junior Morgan Fannin (Circleville, OH) each finished with three goals and an assist, while senior Amelia Willis (Waverly, OH) had a hat trick of her own and senior Jitske De Muijnk (Nymegen, The Netherlands) tallied a pair of goals and four assists in the victory.
     Senior Sara Estrada Fernandez (Barcelona, Spain), freshman Nevaeh Peffers (Dresden, OH), freshman Stephanie Beaulieu (Morrow, OH), freshman Jade Fairbanks (Belpre, OH) and junior Allie Jurecki (Lancaster, OH) all netted one goal each for the RedStorm and senior Saskia Vos (Sydney, Australia) had an assist.
     Rio's 36 shots on goal also marked a single-game program high.
     Senior keeper Alba Vilades Marin (Barcelona, Spain) did not face a shot of any kind in getting the victory for the RedStorm.
     Roberts stopped 20 shots in the loss for KCU.
     Rio Grande will close out its regular season schedule on Saturday with a trio to conference-leading Oakland City University.
     Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. EST.