IU Kokomo claims RSC Women's Soccer Championship 2022
KOKOMO, Ind. -- Indiana University Kokomo claimed its first River States Conference Women's Soccer Championship with a 7-1 home win over University of Rio Grande (Ohio) in Saturday's finals game. The Cougars, the No. 2 seed, ran out to a 4-1 lead at the half and never looked back to defeat the No. 5 seed RedStorm.
With the win, IU Kokomo (12-2-3, 8-1-1 RSC) advances to the NAIA National Championship as the RSC's automatic qualifier. Rio Grande (5-10-4, 4-4-2) had its season come to an end after two upset wins in overtime to advance to the championship.
IU Kokomo made sure there was no upset in the finals. Keely Hoopingarner scored in the first minute for the first of her three goals. Morgan Scruggs had two goals on the day. Her first tally made it 2-0 in the ninth minute, and Kaiya Bogers and Hoopingarner added two more goals before the half was through.
The Cougars tacked on three more goals in the final 45 minutes to seal the deal. IU Kokomo had 12 shots each half and a 24-8 advantage for the game. Ashlyn Morefield, Hoopingarner and Scruggs did the scoring in the second half.
For Rio Grande (Ohio), Emma Hinkle made it a 2-1 game with her unassisted goal in the 15th minute. But that was as close as the RedStorm got.
The game was delayed by two hours due to a snow strom that covered the stadium in a layer of snow. When the 5:00 p.m. kickoff arrived, the Cougars took it from there to finish off their 2-0 sweep in the playoffs. IU Kokomo started out with a 5-1 win over No. 3 IU East in the semifinals on Wednesday.