No. 1 Rio Grande men's soccer shuts out Midway (Ky.) in #RSCgotw
(By Rio Grande Sports Information)
RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Jorge Guinovart and Pau Delgado Rodriguez scored two goals each, leading the University of Rio Grande to a 4-0 win over Midway University, Saturday night, in River States Conference men's soccer action at rainy Evan E. Davis Field.
The game was the first intra-conference matchup in any sport for the River States Conference, which was born out of a rebranding of the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in July.
The match, billed as the River States Conference Game of the Week, was also the first contest in the history of Midway University's men's soccer program.
Midway, an all-female school prior to this year, absorbed the men's soccer program from St. Catharine College when the school closed its doors in July.
Rio Grande, the defending national champion and the nation's top-ranked team, improved to 6-0 overall and 1-0 in league play.
The RedStorm did all of their offensive damage in the first half, a large portion of which was played in a driving rain and gusty winds.
Guinovart, a junior from Barcelona, Spain, got the scoring underway just over 8-1/2 minutes into the match, heading in junior Danny Carroll's (Liverpool, England) pass from the right corner.
Rodriguez, a senior from Barcelona, Spain and the RSC's reigning Offensive Player of the Week, made it 2-0 a little less than nine minutes later with an unassisted marker before Guinovart scored his second goal by corralling a wind-blown ball at the top-center of the 18-yard box and blistering a shot into the back of the net.
Rodriguez closed out the scoring with 14:41 left before intermission, finding the net off of a feed from sophomore Eduardo Zurita (Sant Boi de Llobregat, Spain).
Rio Grande finished with a 19-3 edge in shots, including a 12-1 advantage in the opening stanza.
Sophomore Ben Martinez (Montpellier, France) recorded one save in goal en route to a shutout victory.
Christian Neira tallied seven saves in the loss for Midway.
Rio Grande is back in action on Tuesday night when No. 13 Union (Ky.) College visits for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
The Bulldogs handed the RedStorm their only loss last season, before Rio avenged the setback in the second round of the NAIA National Tournament.
Midway also returns to the pitch on Tuesday night at Cincinnati Christian.