SOCCER MEETS NO. 1 NATIONALLY RANKED LOUISBURG IN REGION X SEMIS

PETERSBURG, Va., (Oct. 30, 2015) – The Richard Bland College men's soccer team has played two distinct games against No. 1 nationally-ranked Louisburg College this season, enduring a lopsided 6-1 loss a month ago and nearly pulling off a huge upset last Sunday. On Saturday, the No. 4 seeded Statesmen and No. 1 seeded Hurricanes meet in the semifinals of the Region X Championships at Legion Stadium in Wilmington, N.C. at 5:30 p.m.

Louisburg College sits atop the NJCAA Division I rankings with a lofty 17-1 record, advancing to the Region X semifinals on Wednesday with a 4-0 victory over the University of South Carolina at Lancaster. Richard Bland advanced with a similar 4-0 triumph over Cape Fear Community College. The other semifinal contest matches No. 2 Patrick Henry versus No. 3 Spartanburg Methodist at 7:30 p.m. The Region X Championship game will be played on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

WHO: No. 4 Richard Bland vs. No. 1 Louisburg College 
WHERE: Wilmington, N.C.  
WHEN: October 31 at 5:30 p.m. 
LOUISBURG WEB SITE: Home of the Hurricanes 

RECORDS: Richard Bland is 10-7-2 … Louisburg is 17-1. 

LAST GAMES VS. LOUISBURG: 

Played Oct. 25 in Louisburg, the Hurricanes survived a concerted upset bid by the Statesmen with a hard fought 1-0 victory. Recap and stats at this link.

Played on Sept. 30 in Petersburg, the Hurricanes cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Statesmen. Recap and stats at this link.  

WHAT'S NEXT: The winner advances to Sunday's Region X Championship game at 2:30 p.m. 

RBC QUARTERFINAL GAME VS. CAPE FEAR: The Statesmen scored twice in each half and controlled the game from start-to-finish, earning a 4-0 win over the No. 5 seeded Sea Devils at a rain sodden Statesmen Field on Wednesday … Richard Bland was offensive-minded and held a 24-4 advantage in shots while defeating the Sea Devils for the third time this season … The Statesmen scored two first half goals in similar fashion within two minutes of each other, the first by freshman forward Lorenzo Romeo (New York, NY/Stonewall Jackson) and the second by sophomore forward Godfred Baisel (Cape Coast. Ghana/Patriot) at the 17:36 and 19:10 marks respectively. In each case, Cape Fear goalie Connor Belk, who had a superb game with 14 saves, was caught out of position after deflected shots, leaving an abandoned goal …  

With a two-player advantage for the final 30 minutes due to Cape Fear red cards, the Statesmen were able to tack on two insurance goals, another empty net goal when Belk vacated his position by sophomore Leonard Oballa (Nairobi, Kenya/Aquinas) at 67:50 and RBC's fourth by Abdurazac Abdulla (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia/T.C Williams) with four minutes remaining off a pinpoint cross from forward Sebastian Hendi (Buenos Aires, Argentina/T.C. Williams) … Full recap and stats at this link.  

COACH EDUARDO DE SOUZA ON THE LOUISBURG GAME: "We are going to play a hard game — it's the semifinals of the championships, and we need to believe in our team and our strengths and see what happens." 

DEFENDING THE GOAL: Freshman keeper Ciro Labrada (Guanajuto, Mexico/Stonewall Jackson) has made 108 saves this season, 11th best in the nation in NJCAA Division I ... On eight occasions this season he has had six or more saves in a game … 

SHUTOUTS: Labrada has earned three shutouts in his last four games, dating back the Oct. 16 game at Wake Tech, followed by 1-0 over Cape Fear, and most recently the 4-0 Region X victory over the Sea Devils …  

GOAL SCORING: Nine different Statesmen players have scored this season, led by leading scorers freshman forward Sukrija Dudic (Srebrenica, Bosnia Hercegovina/Hermitage) and sophomore Godfred Baisel (Cape Coast, Ghana/Patriot) with 14 and 12 goals respectively … That duo accounts for 26 of the 45 goals RBC has scored this year … In recent national NJCAA Division I rankings, Dudic is in a 15-player tie for 29th best in the nation in scoring ... NJCAA statistics are updates after each game, so positioning changes on a game-by-game basis … Baisel is the program's all-time leading scorer with 31 career goals.  

ABOUT LOUISBURG: The Hurricanes have scored 79 goals this season (4.4 per game), which ranks 8th in the country … Max Blackmore has scored 27 goals, third best in the nation … Blackmore's 61 points are fifth best in the country … Goalie Braulio Linares-Ortiz has a .065 goals against average, fifth best in the country … Louisburg has 66 assists as a team, 6th best in the country … With eight shutouts this season, the team has earned the 11th best national spot …