Sports
Filho Scores Four On Special Night In Rio Grande
By: Kaleb Carter
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It finished with a bang! Well, Luiz Filho, at least, provided the exclamation points to a night of fireworks both literal and metaphorical in which the Rio Grande RedStorm defeated the Shawnee State Bears by a score of 6-0.
Saturday night featured not only a high-powered Rio offensive attack, but also some rockets overhead after. Fireworks lit up the night, and star power was all over Evan E. Davis Field. Saturday was also the night that the university chose to honor the undefeated 2003 NAIA National Championship squad. The team was named to the university’s “Wall of Honor” and the captain of that team, Steven Kehoe, was inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame.
On the pitch, the Brazilian sophomore Filho, who has racked up numerous accolades during the course of the regular season, could expect to see more come his way in the near future. Filho picked up four goals in the matchup, making it look easy against a helpless Bears defense.
Filho got right to it, scoring in the fourth, and eighth minutes of play, even adding two more before the half. Yes, he did in fact produce four goals in one half of play.
Filho scored his first two goals of the night via finishes off of corner kicks. A beautiful header found its way into the top right hand corner of the net to put the RedStorm up one early. The goal eight minutes in came when an Orlando Zapata corner ball found itself neatly on the heel of Filho’s inside right foot and flew past the keeper for a nifty score.
Two of Filho’s later goals came on a nice chip shot, and an easy put-away past Bears’ keeper Thomas Cabronari, who was under stress all night. The RedStorm posted 22 shots compared to Shawnee State’s two, quite indicative of how the night went for Rio.
“It was a pretty complete first 45 minutes, I was pleased,” Rio head coach Scott Morrissey said. “The second half, we took the foot off the gas, but it was still a good result for us.”
Maximilliano Viera and Ryota Tonegawa scored the only other two goals for Rio, with Tonegawa’s being his first of the year. Viera’s was a splendid strike in which he took aim from just outside the right corner of the penalty area and booted a blistering drive into the top right corner of the net.
The night really was a special one for the folks in Rio Grande.
“We’ve been planning this for three years with the national championship team being inducted,” Morrissey said. “It was great to see the guys back, some terrific players, and Steven Kehoe being inducted into the Hall of Fame was a fantastic accomplishment, the culmination of a great career for him.”
The Bob Evans Farm Festival, which coincides annually with “Rockets over Rio” just outside campus at the Bob Evans Farms, brought plenty of excitement to the RedStorm’s game as well.
“A big crowd, the fireworks show, the high school games, the girls playing, it’s a big big day of soccer and athletics,” said Morrissey.