BLUEFIELD, Va. – Following its third straight regular season with eight victories, the Bluefield College men's soccer team (8-9-1, 3-6-0 MSC) now points its focus to Thursday's Mid-South Conference Tournament quarterfinal matchup with No. 6 University of Rio Grande. The game is set for 7 p.m.
 
The Rams qualified for the postseason conference tournament for the second straight season, taking the No. 7 seed. BC finished in a tie for sixth in the MSC, but Georgetown held the head-to-head victory for the tiebreaker.
 
Rio Grande (12-2-2, 7-0-2 MSC) earned the No. 2 seed for the tournament and recently fell from the No. 1 national ranking as they concluded their season with a 2-1 non-conference loss at home to the University of Northwestern Ohio.
 
Despite ending the regular season with three straight losses, the Rams are 4-3-1 over its last eight contests.
 
"We are excited to have made it into the Mid-South Conference tournament," stated head coach Peter Dryer. "The guys have worked hard and are competing at a high level."
  The Rams have been led by Jacob Mader's seven goals and six assists (20 points), while Erik Albarran has added nine goals (18 points) and Michael Callaghan has contributed five goals and four assists (14 points). James Gunn has also closed the season strongly, contributing at least a point in five of the Rams' final six games.
 
The Rams will look to work off its early success against the RedStorm, as Bluefield held then No. 3 ranked Rio Grande scoreless through the first 37 minutes of play on Sept. 25.
 
However, the RedStorm broke through late in the opening half by netting three goals in a three minute span. Rio Grande then added three more scores over the final 45 minutes for the 6-0 win, led by sophomore forward Luiz Filho's three goals on the day.
 
"We played Rio earlier in the season and played well here and there, but obviously did not play a good, full 90 minutes," explained Dryer. "Once they put a goal away we lost focus and let them run away with the match. We will need to play our best for a full 90 minutes in order to be successful."
 
Rio is led by Filho's 23 goals on the season, which ranks second in the country. Freshman forward Pau Rodriguez is second on the team in goals (12), assists (6) and points (30). Maxi Viera and Orlando Zapata lead the team with seven assists apiece.
 
A live video stream of Thursday's game is scheduled to be available at www.ihigh.com/redstorm, beginning at 6:50 p.m.