RIO GRANDE, Ohio — Ulisses Miranda scored his second goal of the game with 47.3 seconds remaining in overtime to give Grace (Ind.) College a 2-1 win over the University of Rio Grande, Saturday evening, in non-conference men’s soccer action at Evan E. Davis Field.
The Lancers, who were among the teams receiving votes in the latest NAIA coaches’ Top 25 poll, improved to 11-6-2 with the win, despite being outshot in the contest 19-6.
Rio Grande, ranked No. 13 in the same poll, fell to 9-4 with a second straight home loss.
The loss left the RedStorm with consecutive home setbacks for the first time since 2007 — a 1-0 loss to Fresno Pacific on Sept. 8 and 2-1 to Houghton College on Sept. 22.
Rio Grande broke a scoreless deadlock when senior Callum Malanaphy (Stourbridge, England) found the back of the net from the top of the 18-yard box off a crossing pass from the left wing by freshman Fernando Alvarez (Santiago, Chile).
Grace tied the game just over 10-1/2 minutes later when Miranda gathered in an errant pass by the RedStorm and won his subsequent 1v1 matchup with Rio freshman goal keeper Daniel Merino Correa (Madrid, Spain) with a shot from the left side.
That’s how things stayed until the closing minute of the overtime period.
Rio Grande had a would-be game-winning shot by senior Samuel Pedersen (Aldershot, England) stonewalled by Grace net-minder to Joe Bowles with 59 seconds left, setting the stage for the Lancers’ race up the right sideline, which resulted in Miranda scoring the game-winner off a feed from Daigo Adachi.
Bowles recorded six saves in the win for Grace.
Correa stopped a pair of shots in the loss for Rio Grande, which also held an 8-4 edge in shots on goal and a 6-1 advantage in corner kick chances.
Rio Grande is scheduled to return to action on Thursday when it travels to Shawnee State University for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Randy Payton is the Sports Information Director at the University of Rio Grande.
