No. 3 Point Park falls at No. 2 Rio Grande (Ohio) in RSC Championships semifinals

PITTSBURGH -- Point Park University's run in the River States Conference Men's Soccer Championship ended in the semifinals with Wednesday's 4-1 loss to No. 6-nationally ranked University of Rio Grande (Ohio).

No. 3 Point Park (10-6-3, 6-1-3 RSC) was locked in a tight battle with the No. 2 seed RedStorm (14-1-2, 9-0-1 RSC) with the game 0-0 at halftime. But all the scoring came in the second half, including two goals after the Pioneers went a man down in the 83rd minute. 

Point Park ended the year with 10 wins, which was the first time in four years that the Pioneers earned double-digit victories. Not since the team was 15-3 in 2019 did that happen. 

The Pioneers also notched the first playoff win since 2021 with this year's RSC quarterfinal shutout, 3-0, over Midway (Ky.). 

Rio Grande, meanwhile, moves on to the RSC Championship finals at No. 1 WVU Tech on Saturday Nov. 11. The RedStorm have been ranked in the Top 10 of the NAIA rankings all year and took the No. 2 seed to the Golden Bears on goal differential in RSC play. 

Nonetheless, the Point Park-Rio Grande matchup stayed scoreless through 45 minutes. That was with the RedStorm getting seven shots the first half and Point Park three. Corner kicks were 5-3 to Rio Grande before the half. 

The second half opened up more for both teams with a goals by Rafael Kawata in the 56th minute and Joe McInnes in the 59th to push Rio Grande ahead, 2-0. 

Point Park was right in the game with Genildo Postimo scoring an unassisted marker at the 65:54 mark. The game stayed that way until a hard tackle on the Pioneers' defense led to Baptiste Ferrand being sent off. He had an earlier yellow, and the Pioneers were left a man down. 

Rio Grande took advantage to increase the final result to 4-1 with Tommy Munoz and Julia Fally getting on the board. Point Park's only shot of the half was Postimo's goal as their weren't any more chances allowed.