Rio Grande’s Samuel Pedersen goes airborne to head the ball away from a Point Park player during the first half of Tuesday night’s River States Conference Men’s Soccer semifinal match at Evan E. Davis Field. The RedStorm advanced to Saturday’s final with a 5-2 win over the Pioneers.
Courtesy|Justyce Stout
RIO GRANDE, Ohio — Sebastian Borquez scored one goal and assisted on another to fuel the University of Rio Grande in a 3-0 win over Point Park University, Tuesday night, in the semifinal round of the River States Conference Men’s Soccer Championship at Evan E. Davis Field.
The second-seeded RedStorm improved to 13-4 with the victory and advanced to Saturday’s title game against No. 5 seed Oakland City University, which got its spot in the final after top-seeded West Virginia University was ousted after a positive COVID-19 test.
Point Park, the No. 3 seed in the six-team bracket, closed its campaign at 7-7.
The Pioneers were dominated from start to finish and were outshot, 24-5, including 14-2 in shots on frame.
Rio Grande also had 11 of the 12 corner kick chances in the contest.
Borquez, a sophomore from Santiago, Chile, assisted on the game’s opening goal when he sent a crossing pass from the right side of the 18-yard box and senior Silas Machado (Sao Paulo, Brazil) finished with a header past PPU goalie Andrew Russell for a 1-0 lead with 25:09 left in the half.
Borquez made it 2-0 when he collected a quick touch from the right wing by sophomore Osvaldo Pereira (Campo Grande, Brazil) and found the back of the net with 12:43 remaining before the intermission.
The game’s final marker came 14:47 left to play when senior Callum Malanaphy (Stourbridge, England) scored off the deflection of a saved shot by Pereira.
Rio Grande freshman keeper Daniel Moreno Correa (Madrid, Spain) had two stops in the victory.
Russell was credited with 11 saves in a losing cause for Point Park.
Saturday’s championship tilt is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Evan E. Davis Field.
Randy Payton is the Sports Information Director at the University of Rio Grande.
