Golden Bears drop penalty-marred title game
Nov. 12—There were 22 yellow cards, and players seemed to roll on the turf more than the actual ball.
WVU Tech and Rio Grande took a usually contentious rivalry to a whole other level.
It was No. 20 Rio Grande that emerged from all the clock stoppages, injuries and blood for a 4-2 victory to claim its third straight River States Conference tournament championship Saturday at the YMCA Paul Cline Memorial Youth Sports Complex.
Chippy doesn't begin to describe what played out in Beckley.
Players hit the turf every few minutes — the sincerity of their reactions was often questioned — in a highly physical contest. There were some legitimate injuries, including Rio Grande keeper Daniel Merino Correa having to leave with less than three minutes left in the first half after getting gashed in the leg after stepping up to stop a shot from Tech's Endjick Albert.
Amazingly, the 22 yellow cards were called on 21 players. Twelve were against Tech, 10 on the RedStorm.
Security came on the field after the game to diffuse potential situations, including when some fans and the Rio Grande coaching staff seemed to have words.
Even officials were not safe. One referee collided with a Tech player who was warming up on the sideline and had to leave because of a gash in his forehead that was likely to require stitches.
"I don't think it was a dirty game, but there was a lot of back-and-forth and players reacting to situations, and the ref he kind of let it get out of hand at times," Tech coach Oliver Hewitt-Fisher said. "But when you've got two competitive teams, sometimes that's how it goes.
"I'm still kind of digesting the game. There was definitely ... yeah, it was a little bit more chippy than usual and players didn't keep their composure as much as we needed to. We reacted poorly in some situations."
"I thought the game got away from the official very, very early, and it was one that once it got away from him, it was hard to get it back," Rio Grande coach Scott Morrisey said. "It's always a highly contested match. Very much a competitive nature, and it's been that way since, really, 2016. So it's been that way, and it shows we're the top two teams in the conference and certainly two of the best two teams in the Top 25 as well."
The RedStorm (14-3-2) took the lead for good when Benjamin Cam Orellan bounced the ball in past Tech keeper Lucas Rivera Paramio in the game's 59th minute for a 2-1 lead.
From there, it was all RedStorm.
"I thought in the second half, once we did get that second goal, I thought we were controlling a bit more in the midfield and a little bit more of the flow of play," Morrisey said.
"We came out at halftime a little bit slow and they managed to get that second goal," Hewitt-Fisher said. "Then we tried to switch it up a little bit and try to get ourselves back into the game, but we gave away possession far too easily and that's when they caught us on the break for the third goal."
The dagger came in the 83rd minute when Charlie Chechlacz, who assisted on the first two goals, floated one in after a Tech defender slipped.
Three minutes later, Altan Sayar added another unassisted goal for good measure.
Tech (14-3-3) was finally able to get back on the scoreboard with three minutes to play on a goal by Enrique Ezuerro Lopez, assisted by Edward Tordoff.
Osvaldo Pereria fired a rocket from the left to the right post to put Rio Grande up 1-0 in the 24th minute. Tech tied it eight minutes later when Albert took a pass from Tordoff and got the ball past Correa. It caromed hard off the right post and screamed into the back left of the net.
Rio Grande secured a berth in the NAIA National Tournament.
The Golden Bears, meanwhile, are likely finished for the season. They have an outside chance of earning an at-large bid, but seven of the top 10 teams in NAIA were upset in their conference tournaments, meaning they will eat up half of the 14 at-large invitations.
"Right now," Hewitt-Fisher said, "I'm not too optimistic."
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