No. 1 Rio Grande to host Bethel (Tenn.) in NAIA Opening Round
(By Rio Grande Sports Information)
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - The University of Rio Grande will host Bethel (Tenn.) University in the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship Opening Round on Saturday, Nov. 21 at noon at Evan E. Davis Field.
The top-ranked RedStorm (18-1) qualified for the tournament as a result of Saturday night's 3-1 win over No. 25 West Virginia University-Tech in the title game of the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.
Head coach Scott Morrissey's club has won seven straight games since suffering a 2-1 loss at Union (Ky.) College on Oct. 3 and has been a unanimous choice for the No. 1 spot in the coaches' Top 25 for six consecutive weeks.
Bethel, a member of the Southern States Athletic Conference located in McKenzie, Tenn., brings a 10-6-1 record and a three-game winning streak into the national tourney.
The Wildcats, who are making their seventh national tourney appearance all-time, punched their ticket by virtue of winning the SSAC tournament championship - a 3-1 victory over Auburn-Montgomery. Head coach Melvin Belong's squad is 9-2-1 after a 1-4 start.
Sophomore forward Samuel Goni (5-foot-11) - the club's leading scorer with 16 goals and 35 points - earned Most Valuable Player honors at the SSAC Tournament and was joined on the All-Tournament team by three teammates - freshman defender Scott Couper (6-4), sophomore midfielder Kebba Demba (5-11) and freshman defender Jerry Wiltshire (6-2).
Demba is the Wildcats' second-leading scorer with eight goals and 19 points.
The only common opponent that the RedStorm had with BU is Lindsey Wilson College. The Wildcats lost to the Blue Raiders, 3-1, on Sept. 13, while Rio topped LWC by the same score on Sept. 26.
However, Rio Grande is 0-2 all-time against Bethel. The Wildcats posted a 2-1 win in overtime over Rio in the 2008 national championship game and defeated the RedStorm 2-1 in the second round of the 2010 national tournament.
Live video and statistics will be available at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/rio beginning at 11:50 a.m. Live statistics will also be available at http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/Webcasts.aspx?association=10.