Rio Grande Men's Soccer Upset in NAIA Second Round
Rio Grande Men's Soccer Upset in NAIA Second Round
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. - Shoval Failer's goal just under two minutes into overtime lifted unseeded Northwood (Fla.) University to a 3-2 upset win over the top-seeded University of Rio Grande, Monday evening, in the second round of the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship at the Secreast Soccer Complex.
The Seahawks, who earned their spot in the Sweet 16 as the result of being the tourney's final site host, improved to 9-4-3 with the victory and will advance to Wednesday afternoon's quarterfinal round to face Texas-Brownsville, a 5-1 winner of Rio Grande rival Lindsey Wilson College in Monday's final game.
The RedStorm, who had also been the nation's top-ranked team in the NAIA coaches poll for nearly two months, had an 11-game winning streak snapped and finished 16-2-2.
Failer's game-winning score came on Northwood's opening possession of the extra period, with Theo Stamatopolous earning an assist on the play.
The goal also gave the Seahawks their first - and only - lead of the day after earlier rallying from a pair of deficits.
Freshman midfielder Jorge Guinovart (Barcelona, Spain) gave Rio a 1-0 lead just 11 minutes into the match when he found the back of the net off of a feed from fellow freshman Joao Paulo Antonio (Sao Paulo, Brazil), but Northwood got the equalizer with just over nine minutes left before the intermission on a goal by Alan McCann. Mark Hanlon assisted on the tying marker.
Rio Grande regained the lead with lightning-like quickness after the break when sophomore forward Willian Paulino (Sao Paulo, Brazil) scored just 21 seconds into the second stanza off an assist from Guinovart.
Again, the Seahawks rallied and forged a tie with 21:58 left in regulation thanks to a goal by Christian Costilla and an assist by Craig Mooney.
Neither team was able to find the net through the remainder of regulation, setting up the dramatic overtime finish - the third straight contest of the day which needed extra time to decide a winner.
Northwood finished with a 13-9 edge in shots, including a 7-2 advantage in shots on goal.
Mark Dawson earned the win in goal for the Seahawks, while senior Jon Dodson (Tiffin, OH) recorded four saves in a losing cause for the RedStorm.
Dodson was one of four Rio players who played their final game for the RedStorm on Monday. The quartet also included senior midfielder Cesar Lopez (San Salvador, El Salvador), senior defender Logan Gumbert (Anderson, OH) and junior defender Romain Terzian (Valence, France).
-- article courtesy of Rio Grande
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