Bears drop 2-0 decision to RedStorm in competitive RSC Match of the Week

RIO GRANDE, Ohio -- In a match that was chosen as the River States Conference Match of the Week, the Shawnee State Bears' and the Rio Grande RedStorm men's soccer programs showed why as both programs played one another to a scoreless first half before two second-half conversions from Rio Grande allowed the RedStorm to obtain a 2-0 victory over the Bears in a Saturday evening River States Conference matchup that was held at Evan E. Davis Field in Rio Grande.

Shawnee State, who was outshot but by a respectable 17-9 margin, actually held a 5-4 lead on shots in the opening half of competition. The Bears nearly capitalized as a well-placed pass off of a free kick by Guillermo Conejo Martin looked to find a Bear for a back net conversion within the match's first 10 minutes of play, but the goal was waved off as Shawnee State was ruled to be offside on the play.

Despite this, Conejo Martin still put pressure on goal -- as the senior put together an eighth minute shot on goal, which was followed by two near-misses in the 23rd minute by Matt Stam and Sean Williams, who had shots saved by Rio Grande's Matheus de Campos.

In the second half of competition, Rio Grande came out pressuring as the RedStorm took seven shots over the first 12 minutes of the second half. While Eric Green did another formidable job in the post with six saves -- including several of the diving variety -- Rio Grande was able to get on the board in the 52nd minute as Joe McInnes punched a shot home.

Shawnee State's Trevor Aveiro Masanjala nearly supplied the equalizing goal in the 61st minute of play -- but again, de Campos was there for the stop, and 11 minutes later, the RedStorm capitalized on a run that saw Tommy Munoz Salazar convert.

Conejo Martin and Marco Riva each led the Bears with two shots each -- with the pair combining to put three shots on frame in the contest. Masanjala, Stam, Williams, Clement Akanyah and Guilherme Bitencourt posted the remaining shots on the Bears' behalf.

Shawnee State (3-6-1, 0-1 River States Conference) returns to Shawnee Turf Thursday, Oct. 3 to face Indiana-East (4-3, 0-0 River States Conference) in a RSC matchup that will be held in Portsmouth. The match, which begins at 8 p.m., follows the SSU women's soccer match against IU-East at the same site, which commences at 6 p.m.