No. 2 seed Rio Grande advances in NAIA Men's Soccer Opening Rd, beats STU
Rio Grande Sports Information
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Harry Reilly registered the first hat trick of his collegiate career and assisted on another goal, leading the University of Rio Grande to a 5-1 win over St. Thomas (Fla.) University in the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship Opening Round Saturday afternoon at cold, windswept Evan E. Davis Field.
Pau Delgado Rodriguez added a pair of assists in the win for the second-seeded RedStorm, who improved to 19-1-1 overall while earning a second round date with No. 15 seed Corban (Ore.) - a 1-0 winner over Menlo (Calif.) in another of Saturday's opening round matchups - on Tuesday, Nov. 29, at 11 a.m., at the Seacrest Soccer Complex in Delray Beach, Fla.
St. Thomas, which was making the school's second all-time NAIA tourney appearance, finished 9-7-2 with the loss.
Reilly, a sophomore from Coventry, England, scored each of the RedStorm's final three goals - one in the first half and two after the break - to secure the win.
Reilly took a pass from Rodriguez - a senior from Barcelona, Spain, and fired a shot which deflected off of a St. Thomas defender and Bobcat goal keeper Connor Christie and into the net for a 3-1 Rio Grande lead with 9:00 left in the first half.
Reilly, who had four goals for the entire season entering Saturday's game, scored again at 59:38 off a nifty crossing pass from junior Joao Paulo Antonio (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and found the net again just over two minutes from the top of the 18 yard box - thanks to an assist by Rodriguez - to set the final score.
Rio Grande, the defending NAIA national champion, scored twice in a span of just 2:07 to take an early 2-0 lead.
Junior Jorge Guinovart (Bracelona, Spain) scored on the rebound of his own blocked shot at the 14:48 mark and senior Lucas Talaveira-Befi (Sao Paulo, Brazil) found the net on a breakaway to the goal at 16:55, with Reilly earning an assist.
St. Thomas sliced the deficit in half with 17:04 left before the intermission thanks to a defensive miscue by the RedStorm.
On a Bobcat throw-in from the right corner, the ball deflected off of a Rio defender and past sophomore net-minder Ben Martinez (Montpellier, France) to make it 2-1.
As things turned out, that was as close as STU would get to a goal.
Rio finished with a 19-4 edge in shots, including a 10-0 advantage in shots on frame.
The RedStorm also enjoyed a 12-2 cushion in corner kick opportunities. St. Thomas had both of its corner kicks inside the game's first four minutes.