Box Score (PDF)
COLUMBIA, SC – Men’s soccer team Marshall, 12th, opened the Conference USA game with a 2-0 win at the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday. Junior Vitor Dias added to the leadership of his team, now with six goals, scoring both goals for the Flock.
The Thundering Herd improves to 4-1-1 overall and 1-0-0 in the conference action. Gamecocks drop to 6-4-0 and 0-1-0 in the league game.
“I thought we were fine today,” Herd’s head coach Chris Grassie said. “I think that sometimes we have the ball well, but overall, our possession pace needs to improve. We were very well defensively! Our quarter-finals really started to improve and for most we were very difficult to break from the front to a good defensive performance of the team. Vitor Dias started to score more goals. He’s extremely talented, it’s great to see him start adding that to his game. Overall, I am very happy that we can add the first three points on the board. “
Both teams played goalless in the first half. Marshall beat South Carolina 6-0 in the first 45 minutes, but none of the shots went into goal.
In the second half, Dias entered the field through the Herd. Junior only made two shots in the contest, but made both of them worthwhile. Dias scored the first goal in the 55th minute after a senior pass Pedro Dolabella. Dias scored the second goal of the match after 68 minutes. It was the fourth match that Dias found at the back of the net and his second confrontation with two goals scored.
Marshall’s defense ended the rest of the game with South Carolina becoming aggressive to try to get on the scoreboard. Marshall overtook the Gamecocks 9-6 in the second half, however, only one hit South Carolina. Junior goalkeeper Oliver Semmle was there to save him by taking his third win of the season.
Senior Jamil Roberts and red second year shirt Milo Yosef kept offensive pressure on South Carolina’s defense throughout the day with four shots each. Along with Semmle, five Marshall players played every 90 minutes and were the main contributors to the defensive effort. Juniors Nathan Dossantos and Jan-Erik Leinhos, junior redshirt Collin Mocyunas, and second year students Gabriel alves and Max Schneider played the entire game.
The herd returns to Hoops Family Field on Saturday, March 13 at 2pm, when the FIU Panthers come to Huntington for a Conference USA game.
For all the latest information on the Marshall men’s football team, follow Herd on Twitter @HerdMSoccer, Facebook at Marshall University Soccer and at www.herdzone.com.
To follow all the sports of Thundering Herd and get live statistics, schedules and free live audio, download the Marshall Athletics App for iOS or Android!
— HerdZone.com —